Into the Loud-Verse
by Shoe2kill506th
Summary: When Lisa Loud builds and tests a portal to another dimension against Lincoln's wishes, the Loud house is thrown into chaos as she accidentally sends five of his sisters to the gender swapped dimension of Royal Woods, and in turn five of his "brothers" are sent in their place. How will they get on? How different are both families? But most importantly... how will they get back?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading my fanfic. I worked really hard on it, and if you guys like it and want more I will be happy to post more chapters. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy!**

**(Disclaimer: I do not own the Loud House. The Loud House and it's characters were created by Chris Savino and are owned by Nickelodeon Studios. Please support the official release.)**

Enter the Loud-verse

Chapter 1: A nightmare come true

It was a warm summer day at 1216 Franklin Avenue in Royal Woods, Michigan, and the sun had just reached its highest point in the sky. The members of the Loud residence were strewn out all over their enormous black and white painted house, from the comfortable surroundings of their own rooms, to the open space of their front and back yards, each family member's attention enraptured in what they were doing. All was normal...well as normal as one could get when living in a house with 12 other people. You see there was a delicate sense of balance that set it apart from most households. The chaos was just as essential as the order, although to outsiders (and easily annoyed neighbors) it looked like the Loud house was only ever in a constant state of chaos.

Little did they know, that from the moment the first loud resident woke up in the morning til the last minute of the day when everyone retired to their bed, the Loud family relished in that familiar and comfortable sensation of chaos that each member played a part in. From the oldest sibling's authoritarian behavior all the way down to the youngest's adventurous wandering in poopy diapers, they all felt the order in the chaos. Especially for the young white haired boy, now standing in his backyard dressed from head to toe in his fencing uniform.

Lincoln Loud, was drenched in sweat from the summer heat, and was breathing heavily through his wire frame face guard. He had argued with his sparring partner that they weren't in class, so their uniforms were unnecessary, and would just wind up make their practice session miserable for them both, only to be countered by his partners insistence that a true fencer always practices in their uniform to prevent injury, regardless of weather conditions. Too tired to argue he conceded, walked on to the rubber training mat, and readied himself in a starting position.

"_Okay. You got this.", _He assured himself "_You've been training nonstop. Just one tap and she's done." _

Facing his partner they saluted, and both shouted the fencers call to initiate the fight. "ENGARDE!"

Lincoln's opponent took the offensive and immediately rushed his guard, her saber thrusting to meet his chest. Lincoln answered each thrust with a parry of his own, and gained a few feet in front of him, reversing their roles as quickly as the round had started.

"_That's it! Just a little more pressure and it's over!" _

Seizing his opportunity at his opponents backpedaling, he thrust his sword for the winning stroke. His opponent parried, suddenly pulling a quick feint on Lincoln's left flank. He was too quick to try and counter it, leaving his guard completely exposed, and by the time he realized his own mistake, it was too late. He felt the ball tipped sword of his opponent poke him in the chest, and just like that the match was over. Feeling defeated, he collapsed to his knees and tore his mask off.

"_Dang it! I was so close that time." _

"Not bad, Linc. You almost had me." his older sister told him.

Lynn Loud removed her mask and shook her head to and fro, to remove the excess sweat running down her brow and neck. "But, you can't beat all of dis." She drawled, pointing at herself.

Lincoln had taken up fencing at the royal woods community center after watching his older sister Lynn take first place at the state competition in Detroit. He had never considered himself the athletic type before, and usually declined the offer whenever he was invited to play a game of football, soccer, or baseball. But the beauty of fencing for him was that it was not a sport that required brute strength or the ideal body type; just quick reflexes and the right strategy. Similar to playing video games, he figured. After signing up for classes, and begging Lynn to be his in-home sparring coach, they had started training nearly four times week after school for the last six months. With the start of their summer vacation, they now had all the time in the world to practice their technique in various forms of swordplay.

The two had become closer than they'd ever been, after finally finding something that they both thoroughly enjoyed. Lynn would never admit it, but she was actually having the time of her life training with her brother, and routinely put up a reluctant facade whenever Lincoln asked to spar with her. Despite her frequent bragging she really had meant what she said; two months ago the fight would have been over before it started, but Lincoln had put in the time and effort to step up his game since then, and had come close to beating Lynn at least three times now.

She approached her brother and offered her gloved hand. Reluctantly, he accepted and allowed himself to be pulled up.

"Just you wait. Won't be long til you're coming to me for advice on blocking and parrying." Lincoln countered.

"Yeah, file that little fantasy next to winning 'Legends of the Hidden Temple' and finding the Loch Ness Monster."

"Hey! Me and Dad were THIS close to winning that thing and you know it!"

"Riiiight...besides blocking and parrying ain't what's holding you back. Far as I can tell you've got those two down solid." Lincoln raised his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for his sisters critique.

"It's the feints, bro!" Answered Lynn. "You keep falling for my feints and it's leaves your guard completely open for a strike."

"Hmm..the feints, huh?"

It made sense, when Lincoln heard it out loud, yet he still couldn't help but feel Lynn would always have the advantage over him due to her extensive history in sports and martial arts. But Lincoln was far from deterred, and vowed he would beat her someday.

"Alright then. Tomorrow you and me. Same time. Two hours of nothing but ducking and countering feints. Deal?"

Lynn smiled, "Sure, why not. But first...pop quiz!"

Lynn quickly pulled her arm back as if to punch him, and Lincoln as usual responded by guarding his face and chest with his hands shutting his eyes in anticipation for the blow.

He slowly opened them, and Lynn jabbed his arm twice in two quick motions.

"Oooohh, two for flinching! Haha, man that never gets old." She sneered.

"Oh...it. Is. ON!" Lincoln shouted, unable to hide the playful grin on his face. He tackled Lynn to the ground and tried to get Lynn into a headlock, using the same technique she had used on Lincoln throughout their childhood.

"Ge-get offa me, Stinkin!" She choked out, barley containing her laughter. Leaning all of her weight forward she reached behind her, grabbed the fabric of Lincoln's uniform and pulled him over her head, body and all, his back landing hard on the matt in front of her and knocking the wind out of his lungs. Before he could even begin put up his defense she collapsed on top of him laughing hysterically, and Lincoln soon joined in her reaction, tears streaming from his eyes. Their Laughter was soon interrupted by a call from their second story window.

"LINCOLN!", Lisa shouted, "I require your assistance in the lab immediately!" Lincoln crawled out from under his sisters still chuckling form, and offered up a hand in a gesture of peace.

"Touché," he said cooly. "Alright, I'm gonna go see what Lisa wants. You fine putting the matt away by yourself?"

"You're good bro. I'll catch ya later." Lincoln nodded, and turned to walk through the back door. "And drink water! Waaa-teeer!" Lynn called behind him. "You know that see through stuff that's been keeping you alive since you were born? No soda and no juice after a workout!"

Lincoln waved his hand back at her dismissively and entered the kitchen. He then walked to the fridge, popped open a can of his favorite root beer and proceeded to chug it down in one sitting. It wasn't that he was trying to spite his sister for her warning, more he felt he deserved it after coming so close to beating her. As far as trophies, medals or championships went, he really wasn't interested in trying to win any of those in fencing. At least not since his sisters had awarded him the trophy of "MOST IMPROVED BROTHER" which sat in his families trophy case just around the corner from the kitchen.

No, he didn't need to participate in any trivial competitions with rules, judges, and shiny trophies, just to prove himself a worthy fencer. He just wanted to beat Lynn. One win. That was all he needed. Whether or not he continued to fence was something he would decide for himself afterwards.

He was brought back from his train of thought by Lisa's shouting. "LINCOLN, THIS IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE!" Tossing his empty can in the trash, Lincoln raced up the stairs, entered his bedroom and quickly changed out of his fencing outfit and into his orange polo shirt and blue jeans.

Before he was even half-way to Lisa's room, he was intercepted by his older sister Luna. "Hey bro! Whatchu doin'?" She asked cheerfully.

"Hey Luna. Not much, just going to check on Lisa."

"Put that Jam on pause for a sec, cause I've got a surprise for you." she said with a knowing grin.

"A surprise? What's the occasion?"

"No occasion, no occasion. Just wanted to give you something that will. Blow. Your. Mind." she answered, rocker hand extended.

Lincoln was definitely intrigued his older sister's words, but he had other duties to attend to first.

"That's cool, but I kinda have go help Lisa with something. Can you show me afterwards?"

"Sure! Go help brainbox, and I'll be in my room."

"Right." he acknowledged watching her walk back to her room. _That was weird. _He thought. The only surprises he ever got around the Loud house were either on his birthday or in the form of a pie to the face from his other sister, Luan.

_I swear to God, if they're working together to prank me, I'm gonna get them back sooo hard._

Dismissing the thought he turned and opened the door to Lisa and Lily's room. He couldn't imagine what she needed Lincoln for. As much as he loved her, they didn't spend much time with each other, what with her being cooped up in her room all day inventing new machines, searching for a cure for the common cold, or humorously enough listening to West Coast only times they had spent together, usually involved Lincoln being an unwilling guinea pig in one of her many experiments. But then again so had most of his sisters.

_This should be a treat. _"Hey Lisa, what can I...do...for...you…"

Lincoln words died on his lips as he entered her room staring up in awe at the giant machine before him. From one end of the room to the other,sat an arching metallic frame with flashing light bulbs stretching all along the rim of it. On its left sat a monitor and a keypad, where Lisa sat on a swivel chair, rhythmically typing a string of code, not even noticing Lincoln's entrance.

"Oh good, Lincoln you're here. Fashionably late as always I see." she said without turning around.

"Yeah I was changing out of my fencing uniform...what is THAT?" Lincoln asked, pointing at the device.

"No questions! Not yet at least." she declared spinning in her chair to face her brother.

"Would you be so kind as to connect the energy pulse modulator to the arch so I can properly channel the devices energy output?"

Lincoln blanched at her request. "Um...what?"

Lisa pinched the bridge of her nose in exhaustion.

"...screw in the rest of bulbs at the top of the machine." She answered indicating to the highest point of the arch where only two sockets remained without a bulb despite a ladder already been placed there.

"Oh...sure, that should be easy enough."

"One would hope so. Please be sure to carefully insert the red bulb into in the red socket and the blue bulb into the blue socket".

"Okay."

Taking the bulbs from his sister, Lincoln climbed the ladder to the top and proceeded to screw in the bulbs.

"So anyways, what is-whoa!" The ladder suddenly rocked underneath him and he grabbed onto the rim of the arch to keep himself from losing his balance.

"Please refrain from attempting to win any Darwin awards today, Lincoln!" Lisa called from below. Grumbling to himself, Lincoln finished his task and slid down the ladder the rest of the way to the ground floor of Lisa's room.

"Ok, that should do it," Lincoln said satisfied, "now what is this Lisa? This thing is huge, and you know what mom and dad have said about building things that spike the electric bill."

"Fear not elder brother," Lisa assured him. "For you are about to bear witness to my greatest scientific achievement yet!"

"You say that about all of your inventions."

"Yes...but this time I have thoroughly outdone myself."

"Yeah, you've said that too." Lincoln pointed out slightly amused.

She narrowed her eyes at Lincoln, clearly annoyed.

"Are you going to cease being a fuddy duddy and let me explain what it is, or am I going to have to throw you out of the lab?"

Lincoln gulped, not quite sure how a four year old could throw a person twice her size out of a room but wasn't willing to test his sister's patience given her past...incidents.

"Sorry, go ahead Lis."

"Brother, what you see before you is the product of months of grueling research and engineering. Ever since the multiverse was theorized, scientists around the world have been relentless in the pursuit of irrefutable proof that there is in fact an infinite amount of worlds and universes just like ours with inhabitable life and untapped scientific knowledge. As of today, I will be putting that search to an end. Lincoln Loud I present to you,.." she said arms spread out.

"The Arc!"

Lincoln just looked at his sister in utter confusion.

"It's a portal to another dimension." she said defeated.

"Oh...OHHH." Lincoln answered, finally comprehending.

"Well that's cool sis, what kind of-" his words died on his lips as realization suddenly struck him like a snowball to the face and his eyes widened. About 7 months ago Lincoln had had a nightmare where he had secretly wished that he had 10 brothers instead of 10 sisters. Complying with his wish (mainly because she was looking for a beta tester), Lisa had built him an interdimensional watch which he used to transport himself to another dimension.

For the most part he had gotten exactly what he wanted. They had all similar interests in the same comics, movies, and amusement parks, and weren't nearly as concerned about petty things like table manners or spreading germs through shared food like his sisters had. More than anything he finally felt like he was one of the boys. He had even decided to stay there forever at one point during his visit, and had thrown the watch away into the trash. It wasn't til the next morning that he realized what kind of hell it would be like living with 10 siblings of the same gender; filthy bathrooms and bedrooms that were never cleaned up, random dog piles and dutch ovens, and the relentless bullying and mocking that came from just about everyone of his "brothers". In his dream he managed to retrieve the watch and jumped through the portal back to his own dimension with just a few seconds to spare.

However, things took a turn for the horrific, when he realized that not only was he not back in his original dimension, but he had transformed into a female version of himself whom his brother Loni had called "Linka". The nightmare finally came to an end as he woke up screaming in the middle of the night, and all ten of his sisters rushed into his room to make sure he was okay. In that moment surrounded by all of them he couldn't have felt more grateful at what he thought he had lost forever.

Now it seemed, that one of Lincoln's worst fears was about to become a potential reality.

"Um...elder brother...are you well? You've been standing slackjaw in my room looking at nothing for the last 30 seconds. Are you by any chance experiencing pain in your left arm or smell burnt toast?" Lisa asked, slightly concerned.

Lincoln finally snapped out of it and shook his head, focusing, as Lisa's words brought him back to the present.

"Lisa, you can't use this machine!" he exclaimed.

"Why ever not?"

"It's not safe! You have no idea what's on the other side of that thing or-or what damage it could do."

"And you do?" Lisa asked, eyes narrowed.

"Well..I.." He was reluctant to explain himself, as he knew his sister probably wouldn't take anything he said about his nightmare even remotely seriously, but he had to try.

"Scientific exploration is seldom without any risk dear brother, and an experiment of this magnitude is not something I can simply discard after grueling months of research."

"It's just...I have a really bad feeling about this, and I don't want you or anyone else to get hurt. You see, I had this dream…"

"A dream?", Lisa scoffed. "I do believe ominous warnings regarding impending doom is Lucy's department. I expected a bit more from you, Lincoln."

"Lisa, please you've gotta listen to me, this is a bad idea!"

Lisa dismissed his pleas and returned to typing at her keypad.

"If you don't have anything encouraging you wish to say to me regarding my most recent invention, I suggest you vacate the premises immediately."

"Lisa, I-"

"The situation is under control Lincoln." Lisa interrupted firmly.

"I've reviewed all the variables, and according to my calculations there's only a 1.5% chance that something could go wrong. You have NOTHING to be concerned about."

Lincoln stood there shaking uncomfortably. The little scientists words did not reassure him, but there was no way he was just going to leave his little sister alone with a machine that potentially dangerous. He steeled himself and prepared for the worst, convinced that he couldn't stop her even if he tried.

She got off her chair and walked to one end of the room where a fairly large camera sat on a tripod, lense pointed at the arc. Cleaning the lense with a cloth and pressing a button on the side, she proceeded with introducing the experiment to the camera.

"Greetings all. This is Dr. Lisa Loud's video log #366, dated Thursday June 20th 2019 at 6:27 PM Eastern Standard Time. After many sleepless nights of research and construction, the Arc is finally ready to make the leap necessary for accessing the multiverse. This is it, my friends. Let's make history."

Stepping away from the camera, she want back to the monitor and typed in one last stream of code.

"Aaaannnd...complete!" she declared hitting the enter button on her keypad.

A low humming sound came from the arc and gradually increased in volume as the machine powered on.

"Administering primary fuel source." Lisa stated.

Three vials filled with a bright red liquid quickly started to drain, apparently being sent into the machines engine.

"Initiating proper voltage."

The bulbs all along the arch started to light up,each color alternating in either red or blue.

"Synchronizing with the multiverse in 3...2...1."

Suddenly a gelatinous green light appear in the empty space between the arch and started to expand until it occupied the entire space. It was the same light he'd jumped through in his dream.

"Eureka!" Lisa shouted in triumph.

Despite Lincoln's fears he couldn't help but smile at his sisters enthusiasm. It was rare for her to be this psyched about something, and his doubts started to fade. Lisa was the smartest person he knew and she obviously took the success of this machine very seriously. Maybe she was right. Maybe there was nothing to worry abou-

The smile slid off his face as he felt the room start to shake all around him. The humming from the machine was growing uncomfortably louder, and a flashing red warning sign appeared on Lisa's monitor.

She minimised the red sign and started frantically typing on her keyboard, trying to assess the situation.

"Lisa. Lisa! What's happening?!" Lincoln shouted.

"I'm not sure! The machines starting to become unstable! All prevailing variables indicated that this shouldn't happen!"

"Well it IS happening! We gotta get out of-"

Lincoln's words were cut off as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

_Oh no._

At the top of the arch, where Lincoln had helped Lisa install the proper parts to her machine, he noticed that instead of an alternating pattern of blue and red bulbs, four of them were out of sequence, two red and two blue installed next to each other. Lincoln, had caused the machine to become unstable.

Instincts kicked in, and he rushed towards the ladder still perched on the east wall and placed it against the arch ready to climb back to the top.

"What are you doing?!" Lisa demanded grabbing the back of his shirt.

"I know why this is happening! I can fix this."

"NO. You'll just exacerbate the situation!"

"Lisa we have to turn off this machine!"

"WE CAN'T!" she shouted true panic showing in her eyes.

He turned his gaze back to the center of the machine and to his horror, saw the green gelatinous light expand and contract like a person wrapped in a blanket.

Suddenly the light surged, breaching the borders of the arches edge and what started as a low humming from the machine became an ear piercing shriek.

"GET DOWN!" Lincoln shouted.

He grabbed his little sister and threw her and himself under the nearest desk, expecting the worst. But instead of an explosion they only heard the sound of straining metal, and watched as the frame of the arch became unhinged and the gelatinous light dissipated into several other sources of energy. As quickly as they separated, they shot forth around the room like bullets and ricocheted off every object they came into contact with. Beakers and canisters were knocked over, pictures hanging on the wall were cracked in their frames, and no furniture was spared from the barrage of intersecting beams.

Lisa let out an involuntary shriek, hands covering her ears. Lincoln squeezed his sister tight and shouted, "It's okay! I've got you!" But even he didn't fully believe he could protect them both from chaos that was ricocheting from wall to wall. The sound of crashing objects grew quieter, as each beam made its way haphazardly out of the door to Lisa's room continuing there torrent in the halls beyond. Carefully, Lincoln peaked his head out from under the desk surveying the destruction of the lab. He turned to Lisa, and grabbed her tiny hand helping her stand.

"Are you okay?" He asked still shaking from what just transpired.

"I..I am unharmed."

Lincoln got down on his knees and looked at her spectacled face at eye level.

"Okay this isn't so bad. A little cleaning up to do, but nothing a little elbow grease won't fi-"

His optimism was crushed as he heard the sound of a tiny voice start to wail behind him. He turned and saw smoke rising from the crib in the corner. Lily. He had completely forgotten about his baby sister Lily who had been taking a nap the whole time!

Fueled by panic, the two siblings rushed to their youngest sister's aid, undid the latch to her crib, and Lincoln scooped up her still wailng, expecting the worst. He scanned her up and down looking for any sign of injury or laceration, but as far he could tell she was just upset from being so loudly disturbed from her nap.

"Is she..is she unharmed?" Lisa asked

"I..I think so. Maybe we should-" he suddenly jerked his head sideways as a horrid stench invaded hs nostrils.

"Urp...yep, she's fine, just a poopy diaper."

"Place her on the table. We must be certain." Lisa said, "Let's get her out of that diaper while we're at it."

"Right."

Lincoln carefully set her on the desk while Lisa went to her dresser to look for a package of fresh diapers and baby wipes.

"Shh, shhh, it's okay Lilster, everything is okay," Lincoln said undoing the straps on her diaper, "Lisa and Lincoln just make a big booboo, that's all."

Lily's crying started to cease to just little whimpers.

"All those months of research and construction down the proverbial drain."

Lincoln's temper flared at her sister's complaint.

"I told you that this was a bad idea to begin with! But noooo, you just HAD to test the boundaries of 'scientific exploration'! You're just lucky nobody got hurt-"

His words died on his lips, unable to finish his thought looking down at the infant in front of him.

_Oh no...oh no._

Lisa picked up on his silence and turned to face him, clearly agitated.

"What? What's the matter?"

"Lisa...that's not Lily…"

She came up from behind him, brow furrowed.

"What on earth are you talking about? Of course it's Lily, who else could it possibly-"

Lisa gasped, finally discovering the cause of Lincoln's paralyzed form.

On the table in front of them both, diaper off, and arms writhing in discomfort, was an infant though similar in Lily's appearance, possessed a male genitalia rather than a female's.

This baby was not their sister.

"Oh my word…what have I done..." Lisa breathed, still shaken from this discovery.

Lincoln looked closer at the baby boy before him to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him, and the differences started to stick out. This baby had more blond hair covering its scalp, was slightly longer in body length, and had more teeth visible in it's mouth then his sister had ever shown. The resemblance finally struck a chord in his memory, and he knew exactly who this baby was.

Leon. His baby brother from another dimension.

_Nononono this can't be happening. _He thought covering his face with his hands.

_One of the beams from the arch must have hit Lily and sent Leon here in her place_. _She's in the wrong dimension._

"This...this is completely incomprehensible. How could the arc have possibly turned Lily into a boy?"

Lincoln's thoughts started to go into overdrive, as he realised that this was probably just the surface of the damage that had been done.

"Lisa...how many of those beams did you see shoot out of your room?" he asked warily.

"I..I'm not certain. Three or four? I was more focused on not getting decapitated."

"AAAAHHHHH!"

A shriek from the hall outside startled them both, and Lincoln rushed to the door to investigate the disturbance.

Turning to Lisa he ordered, "Stay, with the baby."

Before Lisa could protest, he was already sprinting to the end of the hall to the source of the scream. Lori and Leni's room. He skidded to a halt as he saw his sister Leni on her knees hovering above the collapsed form of his eldest sister Lori in front of the bathroom door, wisps of smoke coming off of her.

"Leni! What happened?!"

"I don't know! Lori was just coming out of the bathroom when like this giant ball of green light smacked her in the stomach! Lori! Say something! Are you okay?!"

Lori lifted her head to look up at her concerned siblings and let out a tired grown.

The sound was deeper than it should have been.

"Ugh, what just hit me?" the person kneeling before them asked in an unmistakable baritone.

Lincoln's heart sank, and Leni gasped as she saw in her sister's place a teenage boy with a few stands of facial hair on his chin, a shorter hairstyle, and lack of make up.

_Loki._

"L-lori?"

"Lori? Who's Lori? What's going on-"

Loki's eyes came into focus and stared up at the two forms in confusion.

"Uh Linka, Loni...I get that you two are into cosplay, but this is kinda overdoing it don't you think?" he asked.

Out of nowhere Loki placed his hand firmly on Leni's chest, and Lincoln's face blushed bright red, while Leni's just contacted into pure horror.

"Though I gotta say this feels pretty realistic, bro. What did you use for the...the.."

Loki went silent, face turning redder than Lincoln's, as realization dawned on him. This wasn't a costume.

Loki had just groped his sister's breast. This situation had just gone from bad to worse.

Leni started screaming and her hand slapped hard against Loki's cheek, sending him tumbling back down to the floor. Leni reeled behind Lincoln and started to pull him backwards with her.

"LINCOLN! SOME PERVERT'S IN THE HOUSE AND HE JUST GROPED ME!"

"Leni, calm down! This is all just a big-"

They heard a loud crash behind them and turned to see their younger sister Lana tackle a young blond boy wearing what looked like a prince's outfit to the floor, arms pinning him down.

"Alright buster! Who are you and what have you done with my sister Lola?!"

"Who the heck is Lola? Where's Leif? Get offa me, you beast!" he protested.

_Lexx._

Before Lincoln could try and intervene a boy about two heads taller than Lincoln stepped out of Luna and Luan's room. He was rocking a brunette faux hawk, had a blue vest with a purple shirt underneath and black pants, his face covered in freckles.

_Luke._

"Will you guys keep it down?! I've got a major headache and I just wanna...oi!"

He noticed the scuffle between Lana and Lexx, rushed toward the two, picked Lana up by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall, faces inches away from each other.

"Get off my brother you little creep! Who are you and what are you doing in my house?!"

Lincoln grabbed Luke's leg trying to get his attention.

"Luke! Just calm down! I can explain everything!"

"Stay out of this, Linka! Some kid was just tryna.."

He looked down at Lincoln for the first time, and a new anger made its presence known.

Luke unceremoniously dropped Lana to the floor and punched Lincoln in the face sending him to the ground. Lincoln leaned on one arm for support, his other hand clutching his left eye.

"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?!"  
Luke shouted, adopting a British accent.

"Luke..please just listen…" he pleaded

Lynn Jr. appeared from the top of the stairs now in her regular jersey and shorts, and jumped on Luke's back, arms wrapping around his neck. Luke staggered sideways, hitting the wall on his side, struggling to get free of Lynn's grip.

"LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE, ASSHOLE!" Lynn shouted, teeth bared in rage.

Just then Lucy and Luan stepped out of Lynn and Lucy's room, their attention now brought to all the screaming and crashing taking place out in the hall.

Luan absorbed the faces of all the people around her, concern on her face.

"Guys, what's going on?"

"Who is that?", Lucy asked.

Still clutching onto Luke's back Lynn called, "LUAN! CALL THE POLICE, THERE ARE STRANGERS IN THE HOUSE!"

Lexx and Lana were crying, Luan was fiddling with her pocket, trying to get her phone out and all of Lincoln's sisters were now in some kind of confrontation with his interdimensional brothers. Lincoln got to his feet and tried to see figure out how he could regain control of the situation.

"I literally have no idea what's going on!"

"Back off creeper! I have mace, and it totally hurts."

"Get offa me kid!"

"Eat shit, Mick Swagger!"

"Where's Lola?"

"What happened to Leif?!"

"Luan, are the cops coming?!"

"Dangit my phone's dead! Lucy get back in your room and lock the door."

"What the-is that silly string?!"

"Luan, why is my can of mace shooting silly string?!"

It was pure pandemonium. Lincoln had seen his siblings fight amongst themselves plenty of times before, but these were people entirely unfamiliar to each other. Now there was a cold fear in his heart that this time they might really do damage to each other if something didn't happen fast. They were all either going to maul each other out of fear or self defense, all because those stupid beams had turned his sister's into-

_Wait….didn't Lisa say they're were four beams?_

As if on cue, a sudden racket from downstairs gave pause to the commotion happening in the second floor hallway. All eyes quickly focused on the rouge green beam flying up the stairs then bouncing up and down the hallway. Lynn stopped pounding the stranger and looked on in horror as the beam was ricocheting from ceiling to wall to floor, right in Lincoln's direction. Elder sibling instincts kicking in, she pushed herself off the intruder and ran towards her brother.

"LINCOLN, LOOK OUT!"

Lynn shoved her brother to the floor out of the path of the incoming beam and took it full force in the face, her entire figure being consumed by green light, blinding everyone.

They're was a pained shout and then Lynn's form collapsed on the hallway carpet inches from where Lincoln sat in shock.

"Lynn? Lynn?!"

Lincoln and all of his sister's rushed over to their collapsed sister, smoke still coming off her prone body. Lincoln shook her sister's arm, trying to elicit a response.

"Lynn! Come on sis, wake up! Speak to me!"

The form started to stir and lifted it's head slightly.

"It's okay Linka. I got you...you're safe...

The boy looked down, expecting to see his sister underneath him, but was only greeted to the red carpet of his hallway. He pushed himself up to face the others, worry plastered on his face.

"Linka? Linka, where are you, what's...?"

Lincoln, Leni, Luan, Lana, and Lucy all stared at Lynn Jr. in pure shock, still trying to comprehend what they had just seen take place. For just like Lori, Luna, Lola, and Lily, Lynn had been replaced by a genderswapped male version of their sister. Except for the shorter brunette hair and the single '0' on the jersey rather than a '1' it looked just like her. But there was no mistaking it. This Lynn Jr. was a boy as well.

"Luke. Loki! What just happened? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Lynn shouted in horror.

The chaos continued as the boys faced the girls in an endless shouting match of who was who, where was where, and why was why, while Lincoln stood in the middle trying to get everyone's attention. His left eye hurt something fierce and his anger over the whole situation finally got the better of him. He walked behind his sister Luan and jerked out the airhorn he knew she kept in her back pocket for pranks around the house.

"SHUT. UP."

Shooting his arm in the air he pressed his finger on the button, and held it there for a good 10 seconds until everyone was covering their ears and looking at him with strained eyes. He took his finger off, and took a deep breath.

"IF YOU ALL WILL STOP TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER FOR JUST FIVE FREAKING MINUTES, I WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING THAT'S LED UP TO THIS MOMENT. BUT SO HELP ME GOD, IF ANY OF YOU START THROWING HANDS AT EACH OTHER I'LL BLAST THIS HORN INTO YOUR EARS UNTIL YOU ALL NEED HEARING AIDS, GOT IT?!" Lincoln bellowed red faced and breathing heavily.

To his surprise, they all nodded their heads slightly in confirmation, nervously glancing at one another. A door opened up behind them, and they all turned to face Lisa carrying Leon wrapped in a purple blanket.

"Ah...it appears my hypothesis was correct." Lisa announced, her face deadpan of any emotion.

"Everyone. Lori and Leni's room." Lincoln pointed. "NOW."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys thank you so much for reading my first chapter and soo sorry about the confusion with posting chapter 2, I'm really reeeally new to publishing fanfic so it gets kinda confusing. If uploading this goes well, then I'll publish chapter 3 soon and go from there. Any advice to make it easier is welcome. Thank you for all of your feedback and critique and please by all means keep it coming. This is gonna be fun. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2: Up to speed

Lisa Loud's thoughts about her and her sibling's situation were racing, as she opened up the fridge and took out a frozen steak from the freezer. Fifteen minutes ago she was on the verge of making the greatest discovery of her entire career, further cementing her already legendary name in the scientific community. Now she had not one, but five interdimensional imposters to deal with upstairs in Lori's room and by extension five missing sisters from her own dimension gone completely.

_How could this have occurred, _she wondered. _I calibrated the machine correctly, used the exact amount of fuel to power the engine recommended by my colleagues, and administered the voltage at the appropriate time. _All variables suggested to her that this should have gone off without a hitch.

_Unless..._she paused. _I haven't examined every variable._

Looking back, Lincoln had claimed he knew why the arch was malfunctioning and that he would try to do something to fix it. He had positioned the ladder just in front of it, presumably to climb back to the top.

_Did he unintentionally disrupt the flow of electricity to the pulse modulators? _The gears in her head started to go into overdrive and everything clicked into place. If the voltage to the machine wasn't channeled properly, then the arch's unstable reaction was far from surprising.

There was no questioning it now: it had to have been Lincoln's recklessness that brought them to this point. But she digressed; there were far more important things to worry about. The blame game would undoubtedly come later.

Lisa reached the end of the second story hallway and entered Lori and Leni's room, where Lincoln was wrapping up his explanation of the day's events; who he was and why they were all there, the arch's sudden malfunction and Lily being replaced by Leon.

"...and that's when I raced down the hall to find out why Leni was screaming, then saw that Lori wasn't...y'know...Lori…", he said glancing sideways at Loki.

"Then things went downhill pretty quickly from there. Lynn got zapped right in front of us, I got mad enough to make all of us almost lose our hearing…" he admitted, ears still ringing from his intervention with the air horn. Noticing Lisa enter the room, he took the offered frozen steak from her hand and placed it against his now swollen left eye, a result of Luke hitting him at full force. "...and here we are. That about sum it up, Lis?"

"Affirmative. Admittedly, I was absent for the drama that occurred after we discovered Lily's disappearance, however, I think it's safe to assume that we're now all up to speed.", Lisa announced to everyone present.

On the right side of the room sat Leni and Lana on her own bed, tears streaming down both of their eyes, clearly distraught about the situation. Luan and Lucy sat on Lori's bed which no one except their eldest sister had ever done, even at family meetings.

Loki, Luke, Lynn, and Lexx all either sat or leaned against the opposite wall, their baby brother Leon sleeping in Loki's arms. Loki's left cheek was still red from where Leni had slapped him and his hair had bits of pink silly string in it, a result of Leni trying to defend herself with what she thought was mace. Luke kept a kleenex tissue pressed to his bottom lip, several smudges of blood soaked into the fabric. Lynn Jr. had clearly not held back when she pummeled him in her effort to protect her family.

The tension in the air was thick; an odd mix of morbid fascination and nervousness, both parties unwilling to look at each other in the eye for longer than a second. Loki was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

"This...is literally the craziest thing I've ever heard of."

"Dude, I am wiggin' out here." Luke chimed in shaking his head.

"So...then what happened to the rest of our brothers and sister?" Lynn asked.

"Well, they're probably still back in your guy's dimension with OUR sister's," Lincoln answered not entirely confident with his answer. For all he knew they could be in a dimension completely inhabited by clowns, but if the beam sent his gender swapped brother's from their dimension to his, where else could they have gone? "Assuming Lisa and Levi's machine only set off the five beams, they probably didn't get sent to some third dimension. And if they were they-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up a second, twerp!" Loki interrupted, shaking his one free hand. "How do you know our names?"

"Yeah, we never introduced ourselves to you, and I've never seen you before in my life," Luke added, eyes narrowed.

"I'm pretty sure I would remember meeting a creepy boy version of my older sister." Lexx chimed in for the first time, arms crossed.

"Look it's a lot more complicated than you think and I...wait...did you just call me 'creepy'?" Lincoln asked incredulously.

"Let Lincoln speak," Luan said firmly, glaring at Lexx.

They all looked at Lincoln expectantly, causing him to sigh internally.

He knew they were going to get to this part of the conversation eventually, but all the same, he wasn't ready to explain it at a level he felt most comfortable with.

_Here goes nothing, _he thought.

Lincoln proceeded to explain the dream he had seven months ago, omitting the details of his "brothers" abuse and why he went there in the first place, in an effort to keep the peace. As to what it all meant in regard to their current dilemma, he had no idea. He didn't feel like it was some kind of premonition, considering the fact that he wasn't the one sent away, yet he clearly knew more about this than anyone else in the room, including who the boys were and how they got here. All because of a stupid nightmare.

After he was finished explaining, they all continued to stare at him, every mouth in the room hanging open in bewilderment. Even Lisa looked surprised.

"Hmm...perhaps constructing an access point to the multiverse via a watch would have significantly lessened the margin for error," Lisa noted.

"Lincoln, why didn't tell me you can see into the future too?" Lucy asked.

Lincoln rolled his eyes his sister's perceived psychic abilities but said nothing.

"So...you're saying you've been to our dimension before?" Luke asked.

"Or the closest thing to it. Honestly, I thought it was just a nightmare caused by eating too much peanut butter, but it felt so real. Did Linka"...Lincoln paused shuddering at the sound of her name and thinking back to finding himself inhabiting that girl's body, "ever mention anything about a dream to you guys?"

The boys looked down contemplatively, searching through their memories.

"Well...no...but there was that one night terror she had a while back," Lynn answered, "which we all thought was weird because she stopped getting those when she was six."

"Unlikely to be a coincidence," Lisa stated. "Tell me, what were you fellas doing prior to finding yourselves in our dimension?"

"I was coming out of the bathroom when that beam hit me," Loki answered.

"I was chilling on my bed listening to some tunes." Answered Luke.

"Leif and I were playing 'Knights v.s Dragons'," Lexx whispered looking down.

Prompting him with her hand Lisa asked, "And you, Lynn?"

"I...I was putting away my archery gear when I heard everyone yelling upstairs. Saw some girl that looked like you Luke, giving Linka a rough time, jumped on her back to get her to back off and the next second I opened my eyes she was gone. And I was here." He finally answered, eyes staring numbly at the floor.

"I thought so." Lisa continued. "All of our sister's actions and your actions mirrored each other just as everything was transpiring. Based on that evidence, it's possible that even my genderswapped self was testing the capabilities of interdimensional travel as well."

"Nah...I don't buy it." Luke suddenly said. "Levi's made some stuff that's blown up in his face pretty badly in the past, but even he wouldn't mess up like this. There must be some other reason this happened." Lincoln didn't like where he was going with this.

"And what are you implying?" Luan asked.

"I'm sayin' that one of you guys must have done something to cause all this."

"WHAT?!" Lana protested.

"How is it our fault?!" Demanded Luan.

"Guys, stop it!" Lincoln had been praying to whatever God there was that his family members wouldn't bring this up. Guilt radiated throughout his system enough as it was, and he was doing everything he could to hold himself together. He felt miserable already at the idea that his sisters were stuck in the wrong dimension, scared and confused; he didn't need the added guilt of admitting that this was all happening because of him. But he had no choice now. They deserved to know the truth of his mistake. He took a deep breath.

"The truth is-"

"I bear full responsibility for this fiasco." Lisa cut him off.

All eyes turned to the little scientist still standing next to Lincoln.

"What?" Lincoln whispered.

"Luke is correct. It was my error that brought us all to this point. In hindsight, I probably entered the wrong code into the machine and caused the portal to become unstable. Whether or not Levi (as you called him) has any part to play in this is irrelevant, since he is not currently on our world. It's my fault." She stated without remorse.

All of Lisa's siblings with exception to Lincoln and Leni began to berate her, each saying more or less the same thing; "how could you", "why did you do this", "what are we gonna do now", and the boys, in turn, were glaring at her, Luke's eyes narrowed as if to say 'I knew it'.

If Lisa was bothered by all of the negative attention being directed at her, she was doing an excellent job of hiding it. Her hands were at ease behind her back, she appeared devoid of any emotion.

Lincoln was dumbfounded.

_Why is she doing this? She must know that I'm the one who messed up._

"Guys! GUYS! LISTEN!" Lincoln shouted, "It doesn't matter whose fault this is! What matters is what we're going to do now to fix this!"

"That...may be more difficult than you think, Lincoln..." Lisa said glumly.

"What do you mean?"

She closed her eyes true regret touching her face for the first time.

"The fuel source I used to power the machine is a very rare element that I purchased from the Royal Woods Technological University, using a grant I got from the National Science Foundation, street name NSF. I've already spent the majority of it to obtain the already spent fuel source, and I don't know how likely it is that they would be willing to provide me with a second grant."

"No.." Lincoln breathed.

"Then h-how...how are we gonna get our sisters back?" Lana asked lip quivering.

"I...I don't know."

Lana was on the verge of bursting into tears again, and a mix of sadness and shock started to greet the faces of everyone in the room as they absorbed the information from the little scientist.

It tore Lincoln apart, to see his sister so heartbroken. He walked up to little Lana and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

_No. This is _not _over. _

"Lana, I swear we're going to do everything we can to-"

"Your _sisters_?! What about us, huh?!" Lynn demanded.

"If what four-eyes says is true, then the machine is busted, without fuel, and were stuck in the wrong dimension forever!"

"For..forever?!" Lana and Lexx asked simultaneously, bursting into tears at Lynn's words.

"Real smooth, Dr. Phil" Luke quipped, pulling Lexx into a hug and glaring at Lynn.

"Well it's true, isn't it?!"

"No one is getting stuck anywhere forever!" Lincoln assured him. "Getting you guys home is two sides of the same coin, Lynn. We just need to-"

"Stop calling me by my name like you know me, kid! You don't know me, and I sure as hell don't know you!" Lynn shouted.

At that point, Lincoln had had just about enough of boy Lynn's temper tantrum. Nobody needed his damned pessimism.

"Oh yeah? And what should I call you? Cause right now, the word 'douchebag' comes to mind." Lincoln said hands clenched into fists.

"Among other names." Lucy coldly added.

Lynn suddenly stood up and stomped towards Lincoln.

'Whadya just call me?!"

"Lynn, that's enough!" Loki said handing Leon to Luke and getting in between them.

"But bro, he just-"

"I said back off, Lynn!" Loki commanded.

Lynn glared at Lincoln but reluctantly returned to his spot against the wall, arms crossed. Loki pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

"What jockstrap here is _trying_ to say, is that all of us are...well...kinda scared. We don't wanna be stuck here forever, and I know we don't want any of your sisters stuck in our dimension either. Do we, guys?"

All of his brothers looked away from him, unwilling to answer their brother's question.

"Do. We. Guys?" Loki repeated through gritted teeth.

"No…" They all reluctantly groaned.

Lincoln's heart rate started to decrease as the confrontation was brought to a close. Even in another dimension Loki still had the authority of the eldest sibling in his voice to get his younger siblings under control. That was going to be useful.

Speaking up for the first time since they entered the room, Leni asked, "So...if they're not our sisters...does that mean that they're like our brothers?", a smile growing on the blond's face.

"NO." Everyone shouted in unison and glaring at her.

"Actually in this regard, Leni is not entirely incorrect." Lisa pointed out.

"She's not?" Loki asked.

"I'm not?"

"Negative. Observe." Lisa walked up to every male in the room (excluding Lincoln) and plucked a hair from each of their arms or scalp, eliciting a pained grunt from each boy in turn. She took the strands of hair and placed them in a small vial, which she then attached to a small metallic screen she held in her hand.

"According to my scanner, all of our genderswapped guests share the exact same DNA sequence and blood type as Lori, Luna, Lynn, Lola, and Lily."

She passed the screen around displaying a sequence of two double , each with a green label under them that said 'MATCH' next to the girl's names.

"What...what does this mean?" Lucy asked.

"It means that except for a few minor but obvious differences, the boys share the biological makeup of our sisters, and by extension are related to us by blood."

The girls all looked up at the boys facing them as if they were truly seeing them for the first time. If they squint their eyes and inclined their heads they probably wouldn't even be able to tell it wasn't their sisters. Their features were completely identical; boy Lynn's cheekbones remained level with where girl Lynn's would be, there wasn't a freckle out of place on Luke's face perfectly mirroring Luna's, Loki's eyes a sharp golden brown as Lori's, Lexx had the same stubby nose as Lola's did, and of course if they didn't know any better, that baby in Luke's arms could easily have been mistaken for Lily and not Leon. Even they're body language and demeanor was identical to that of their sister's.

"However because they're from another dimension they're what's known in the scientific community as 'biological strangers'."

There was so much to take in. So many questions and so many worries swirled through the heads of everyone in the room, but any chance at them being addressed was squashed when Lynn stood up, hands clenched into fists and walked to the bedroom door.

"Forget your stupid scans. I'm outta here."

"No Lynn, wait!" Lincoln and Loki both shouted, but Lynn had already slammed the door shut, and was heading lord only knew where.

"Don't just stand there! Help me get Lynn back!" Lincoln pleaded, putting down the frozen steak and racing out the door.

Loki and Luan soon followed and the room was quiet again, each member of the Loud house sitting in hopeless silence, only to be broken by Leni's confused voice ten seconds later.

"Wait...I thought Linky said his name was 'douchebag'?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright I figured out how to post and add chapters so its allll good. Cause you guys have been so patient I decided to post ch. 2 and 3 today. Btw whos your favorite Loud House genderbent character and who do you really want to see more of? Lemme know! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Loud house, it was created by Chris Savino and is owned by Nickelodeon Studios. Please support the official release**

Chapter 3: The ruse

Anger radiated off of Lynn Jr. with every step he took down the hall. He didn't know whether to scream, hit something, break down in panic, or heck, do all three. All he knew is that he had to get out of that room with that stupid white-haired boy who looked exactly like his sister.

_I'm the stranger? They're the strangers! _He thought.

The young jock had just been trying to keep his family safe from intruders before he blinked and wound up in this horror of a dimension, and now there was the very real possibility that he would never see any of them again.

Including Linka.

"Lynn, come back! Please!" Lincoln begged behind him.

"Dude we're not done talking yet!" Loki added.

"Where are you going?!" Luan asked.

"Anywhere but here!" He called not bothering to look at them. If their situation was as hopeless as it seemed where the hell did it matter where he went?

Predicting Lynn's intentions, Lincoln quickly ran in front of him and blocked his path down the stairs, Loki and Luan still behind the disgruntled young man.

"Get out of my way, kid."

"Lynn, please listen to me! All hope isn't lost yet, and there are still things we need to discuss-"

Lynn cracked his knuckles and stared daggers at him.

"Get out of the way, or I'll make you get out of the way."

Expecting a punch as hard as his sister's, Lincoln flinched but was surprised as he saw Loki wrap his arms around the shorter boys stomach and pulled him back around the corner away from the stairway.

"Wh-what are you doing Loki?! Leggo of me!"

"You need to chill the hell out, Lynn." Loki said trying to keep him still.

"You're only going to make things worse if you go wandering outside the house. What if someone who knows our sister saw you?," Luan explained.

"Nobody asked you, brace-face!", he shouted.

Lincoln covered the struggling boy's mouth with his hand, tired of the insults being hurled at him and his sisters. Damn it all, they did not have time for this.

"Lynn, just shut up and listen to me. I get that your scared and I get that you're frustrated. We ALL are, but as I said all hope isn't lost yet, and we need to talk about what we're going to do next."

Lynn spat on Lincoln's clamped hand causing him to reel back and shake the saliva off of his palm.

_Uggghh...okay, I should have seen that one coming._

"What is there to talk about?! You heard what Lisa said; no fuel means no way back home, means we're totally screwed!"

"We don't know that for sure yet! We still need to explore all of our options and come up with a way to explain to mom and dad what's happened without them losing their heads!" Lincoln shouted.

Lynn stopped struggling against Loki for a second, his mind absorbing the words of the white-haired boy.

"Mom…and Dad?" Lynn asked tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Are they...are they both here?" Loki asked eyebrows raised.

"They went to the store to get some groceries a couple of hours ago, but they could be back here any minute now," Lincoln answered.

"Lincoln…", Luan asked hesitantly, "how _are_ we going to explain this to mom and dad?"

Lincoln looked down at the floor, thoughts racing. He was curious about that dilemma himself, and though he was usually the man with the plan, he'd been so caught up in everything that was happening that that thought had only crossed his mind seconds ago.

"I don't know yet, but we'll think of something. We-"

The sound of vanzilla creaking up the house's drive interrupted his train of thought, and all four of them peered out around the corner to make sure they weren't just hearing things.

To their dismay, they weren't. His parents had just arrived home.

"Dangit! They're here! We need to move fast!"

"What are we gonna do Lincoln?!" Luan asked panicking.

Lincoln's fear and adrenaline mixed together causing him to shut his eyes at the sensation. They were out of time, and he felt like he was going to be sick to his stomach-

_Wait a sec...sick. That's it!_

"Luan, go back to the room and tell everyone that mom and dad are home. Tell all the guys to get in our sister's beds and put the covers over them. Loki and Lynn you do the same. After that, you and Lana head downstairs and meet me in the living room. We gotta look like we've been cleaning up the mess downstairs."

"O-Okay...I think I got it." Luan answered, then turned to follow Lincoln's orders.

"Wait, shouldn't we just go down and tell them what's up? I mean, they're literally gonna find out we're here eventually." Loki questioned.

"We will Loki, but not just yet. We need to buy some time to come up with a way to tell them so they don't overreact and do something crazy."

That prospect still terrified them both and Loki looked like he wanted to protest, but instead nodded his head in agreement.

"Oh screw that! I'm headed downstairs!" Lynn shouted

"No, you're not, you idiot," Loki said adjusting his grip on his brother and placing a hand on his mouth to muffle his protests.

"You spit on my hand, you're paying for it with your teeth." He threatened, dragging his brother down the hall.

Lincoln wiped the sweat from his soaked forehead, entered the stairway then slid down the stairs banister on his rear, and ran into the living room.

The damage to the room was almost as bad as the destruction in Lisa's room. The desk lamps had been knocked off they're stands and were either cracked or shattered on the floor, the couch was riddled with holes and missing fabric, only one leg remained to support the coffee table, and picture frames had been knocked off the fireplaces mantle. It seemed only the TV miraculously survived the onslaught of the beam's traversal. Lincoln grabbed a broom and dustpan from the corner and set to work sweeping up the broken pieces of glass, struggling to come up with a plausible explanation to give to his parents. He couldn't hear any movement upstairs, but he had to trust that his sister had done as he asked, and pray that they would all comply with the plan.

A minute later Luan and Lana quickly ran downstairs to meet Lincoln but stopped dead in their tracks at the state of the room.

"One of those green things did all of this?!" Lana whispered.

"Well _beam me up _Scotty, cause this place is a disaster." Luan quipped.

"I know it looks bad, but this is the least of our problems. Just start cleaning, and _play along._"

The two girls sprang into action and began to play their parts each picking up a cleaning instrument. The doorknob turned, and Lincoln was greeted to the sight of his father's form clutching two armfuls of heavy paper bags filled with groceries.

"Hey, anyone mind giving me a hand with this?"

"I gotcha, dad," Lincoln said dropping the broom and rushing to follow his father into the kitchen.

"Urg...thanks, son." Lynn Sr. grimaced handing Lincoln an armful of groceries. "Boy, I swear these bags get heavier every time I go out."

"Gettin up there in years, aintcha old man?" Lincoln quipped, keeping up the usual banter between him and his dad.

"I'll have you know I am in the prime of my life right now. I've got the tie to prove it!" he said sticking his head around the bag showing off the new green and yellow tie around his neck.

"And it only cost me $2.50 for-

Lynn Sr.'s proud display was cut off as he got a good look at his son's face.

"Lincoln what happened to your eye?!" He asked getting on his knees to get a better look.

"Oh, this? It's no big deal. Totally my bad."

"It's so swollen! Can you even see out of it?"

"Yeah dad, I'm alright. Just a little bruise is all."

"Start talking. What happened?" his father demanded.

_God, I hope this works..._

"Lynn and I were fencing, and it was just soooo hot outside that I suggested we train without our uniforms for once."

Well, at least that part was true.

"Anyways she kinda nicked me in the face, and that's how I got this shiner. Pretty dumb, right?" he asked chuckling.

"I'll say! Lincoln, those face masks are used specifically so stuff like this doesn't happen. You could have lost your whole eye!" his father told him more out of concern than anger.

"I know. Always the most painful lessons that really make the point, am I right?"

He cringed at his own pun, but his father had always loved those from any one of his siblings and figured any attempt to soften his father's alarm was worth it.

"How's your sister? Did she get hurt too?"

"Oh no she's fine, she's just-"

"Oh my God! Girl's, what happened in here?!" He heard his mother Rita call from the living room.

"Hold that thought," Lincoln told his dad, rushing to the living room.

"This place is a wreck! Did you girls get into ANOTHER fight? I swear, I am getting so sick of this 'Sister Fight Protocol'." Rita Loud demanded, clutching her purse and car keys.

Luan was the first to protest, "No mom it wasn't us, we were-"

"It was a squirrel!" Lana intervened.

"...a squirrel?"

"Yeah. Charles chased a squirrel into the living room, and it took us a while to get it out the door. Took some chunks out of the sofa while it was at it, but I can patch it up in a jiffy." Lana explained, referring to the Loud residences pit bull terrier and short haired cat. She felt slightly guilty for putting the blame on her best canine friend, but she trusted Lincoln that he knew what he was doing.

"Guess you could say Charles _went nuts_ for that squirrel! Hahaha. Get it?" Luan asked.

In the corner of the room, the family dog perked up at the sound of his name, head tilted sideways in confusion. Rita surveyed the room, a look of skepticism on her face.

"I see...so this squirrel not only turned our sofa into swiss cheese, but it somehow managed to crack the glass of our family's picture hanging from the wall?"

Indeed, the picture of all eleven of her children she'd gotten for her and her husband's anniversary that year was now damaged, the glass shattered and hanging from one corner of the wall. That had been the parent's favorite picture of their children.

"It was a flying squirrel!" Lincoln added sliding in front of his mother.

"You shoulda seen it, mom, it flew everywhere! Heck, I'm surprised it didn't put a hole through the TV, it was going so fast." Lincoln said, thinking on his feet.

She turned to look at the tv still intact then back to Lincoln.

"Well that's good news, but why are you three the only-Lincoln your eye!"

Rita put her hands on her son's face examining the wound.

"Did the squirrel do this too?" She asked, fear creeping in her voice.

"Oh no, that was just from a fencing accident. I'm okay mom, really."

"Let me get you some ice for that!" she said getting up and heading for the kitchen.

"What's going on-Whoa! This place get hit by a tornado?! You and Lynn didn't fence inside the house did you?" Lynn Senior asked now surveying the damage.

"Nonono we would never do that, dad."

"That crazy dog chased a squirrel around the house!" Rita called from the kitchen.

"Oh no...my records!" his dad exclaimed and heading up the stairs to the attic.

Luan quickly blocked her dad's path arms extended, "Your records are fine dad. They only chased the squirrel in the living room. Your's and mom stuff is a-okay!"

Lynn Sr. let out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank God. Most of those I got when I studying abroad y'know?"

"Not that we're not grateful for you guys cleaning up, but why are you three the only ones doing it?" Rita asked coming back and handing Lincoln an ice pack.

"Yeah, where are the rest of the girls? They should be helping, too." Their father added.

"Um right...well about that…"

…...

Lucy Loud sat on her coffin staring at what used to be her roommate until half an hour ago. The male Lynn Jr. was writhing on her sister's bed, a blanket covering him, and rope binding his arms to his sides underneath. Duct tape was placed across his mouth, as he was the only member of the group who objected to Lincoln's plan and had actually tried to get to Rita and Lynn Sr.

Every other boy from his dimension had agreed to it and were now pretending to be sick in bed with the flu, their faces covered with blankets and pillows. Even now he continued to let out muffled screams of protest, trying to get someone downstairs to hear him.

Lucy sighed, annoyed and walked over to the squirming boy.

"You know, I've never actually performed a human sacrifice before, but my sisters are always telling me to try new things. What do you think?" Lucy asked, the threat clear in her voice.

Lynn stopped struggling and went pale at Lucy's words, clearly afraid.

"That's what I thought. Just play along, and we'll untie you, but not a moment before. I trust Lincoln. You would be wise to do the same."

She returned to her bed and picked up a book about poetry, leafing through the passages that caught her eye. A moment later she heard her brother and her parents voices ascend the stairs and then entered the goth girl's room.

"...so half the house is sick?"

"We don't have to bust out the chicken noodle soup squirt guns again do we?" Lynn senior asked nervously.

"No, not all Dad. We're all keeping them quarantined in their rooms. Didn't even put up a fight." Lincoln assured them.

"Oh, my poor babies!" Rita said stepping towards Lynn's bed.

"I wouldn't touch her mom. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's already on death's doorstep." Lucy told her not looking up from her book.

Lynn Jr. lay under the covers the top of his head barely exposed. Was that really his mother in the room?

_Now's my chance! _He thought.

He caught the creepy goth girl looking at him out of a slit in the blanket, and saw her shake her head no, a pale finger slicing across her neck.

His eyes widened and he remained frozen despite every fiber in his being telling him to move. _How the heck is Lars even creepier as a girl_?! He questioned.

She let a small smile creep across her face, satisfied that the bluff worked. Of course, she would never actually sacrifice a human; only demons did that, and she found the notion hilarious.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sweetheart, I know how much you hate being sick." She said tussling his exposed hair. "I'll let you get some sleep." The three of them left the room, and Lynn's heart came to a halt in his chest. She _is _here.

The rest of the inspections went fairly smoothly each "sick" child being checked on by Rita and Lynn Sr. from a distance, and any attempt to make contact with them thwarted by one of the missing sister's roommates.

"Lola threw up everywhere. I thought it was pretty cool, but you should probably stay back."

"Did you hear Luna's new song? It was really sick. Hahahaha. Seriously though, don't go in there."

"I like, totes got this, guys. Lori's in great hands."

Still concerned the Loud parents walked back into the hall with Lincoln in tow. "Boy, the Loud family really got hit with some bad luck today huh?" asked Lynn Sr.

"Yeah...just some bad luck I guess..." Lincoln answered looking down, a pang of guilt going through him for lying to them so much.

"But you all stepped up to the plate and took care of each other. Daww, I have such good kids." Rita said, planting a kiss on Lincoln's cheek.

"Now where's my little girl?" Rita cooed walking down the hall.

Lincoln's eyes widened, knowing she could only be talking about Lily. His other disappearance he could fake easily, but nothing would stop his mother from wanting to check on her youngest daughter.

_No, no, they can't find out like this!_

"I-I wouldn't go in there if I were you mom." Lincoln explained, "Pretty sure this all started from Lily, so she's...ya know...kinda 'patient zero'?"

"All the more reason to check on her then!" Rita said undeterred.

Any further attempts at trying to get his mother to turn around would only raise her suspicions. His mother and father were about to discover their daughter's disappearance and everything would go to hell just like that afternoon. It was too late. Lincoln's plan was about to fail.

The door to Lily's room opened before Rita could enter and Lisa stepped out of the room and held the now sleeping Leon, pacifier in his mouth. Lincoln's hands were covering his face expecting the worse until he noticed that Leon looked different than before; his hair was shorter similar in style like Lily's and he had a pale tint to his skin that gave off the impression he was ill.

"Greetings parental units. Your shopping trip was fruitful, I hope."

"Oh, it was. I was gonna cook my famous Goulash for dinner tonight, but it looks like its chicken noodle soup and tapioca pudding for everyone."

"A wise course of action. The soup's contents should ease their symptoms of influenza efficiently " she said handing Leon over to her mother.

"Don't worry sweety, your daddy's gonna make you all better."

Leon started to stir, letting out a tiny whimper, eyes still closed.

"Wow, you're getting so big! What am I feeding you lil' girl?" Rita asked

Lincoln's heart nearly stopped at that, and his mother kissed little Leon on the forehead, completely ignorant of the truth.

He finally relaxed as his mother put Leon back in Lisa's arms and smiled at them both.

"Please inform me when the soup is ready, and I'll be sure to administer it to Lily."

"Y-yeah, I'll bring up the soup too. Save everyone the trouble from getting out of bed."

"Thank you, guys." Rita told them both and she and Lynn Sr. finally descended the stairs back to the kitchen. "And Lincoln, no more fencing without your uniform on! Understand?" His mother told him sternly.

"Yes, mom. Won't happen again."

With Lynn gone, that wouldn't be hard to do.

Lincoln leaned his back against the wall and slowly slid down, finally allowing his anxiety to flow out all at once, the crisis officially averted.

"That...was way too close.." he said shakily.

"All according to plan, yes?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Lisa, how did you pull that off? I thought for sure.."

The little scientist produced a tiny pair of scissors, and a bottle of Leni's foundation, setting Leon aside. At a quick glance, it wasn't obvious, but he now noticed the tiny strands of loose white blonde hair scattered around the infant's face from a rather rushed haircut, and a kiss mark imprinted into the makeup on his forehead.

" 'Smoke and mirrors' as the saying goes." she shrugged.

"Nice one, sis..."

Lincoln and Lisa sighed and leaned back against the wall both sitting on the floor. They remained silent for a good half a minute just sitting there staring at nothing until Lincoln spoke up.

"Lisa, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"Ugh...can I ask you _another _question?"

"You may."

Lincoln shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "...Lisa..why did you tell everyone that this is your fault? I mean, everyone is royally steamed at you now, and you must already know that I'm the one who screwed in the wrong parts to your machine. You didn't have to do this."

Lisa simply stared at the wall, giving a brief nod then glanced at her brother.

"Honestly, I don't know." She chuckled. "I feel as though I've stated those three words in that exact order today, more times than I have in my entire life." Knowing her that was probably true.

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"I am aware of the fact that had I heeded your warning and refrained from testing the boundaries of scientific exploration that we wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation. I would be a fool not to recognize that. I do take the blame for some of this in my own way." She answered looking down.

"But in regards to your question;" she continued, "perhaps it was impulsive. A reflex in empathy, if you will. Or perhaps I've just seen you take the fall for our sister's mistakes too many times in the past and for once I wanted to spare you that burden."

She was referring to the time when Lincoln had covered for Lucy after she had clogged the toilet by trying to flush down her secret Princess Pony book. He assumed they'd all fallen for it, but Lisa apparently knew the truth.

_Of course she knew. She's Lisa Loud._

Lincoln was touched. She may not have said it directly, but it was clear what her intentions were; she loved him and she didn't want him to deal with the backlash of everyone else over his own stupid mistake. Lincoln knew that his little sister loved him just like all of his other sisters did (in their own crazy way), but until now she had always had a very subtle and strange way of showing it. Taking the fall for something this big wasn't just a kindness, it was a mercy, and the gratitude he felt towards his sister formed into a small tear and slipped down his cheek, stinging his swollen eye.

Slowly, he pulled Lisa into a hug and held her tight, trying to keep it together.

"Thank you...I Iove you, Lisa.", he whispered.

Lisa hesitantly put her arms around Lincoln's back and returned the hug.

"I...I love you too, Lincoln."

They stayed that way for about ten seconds until Lincoln broke the hug and dried his eye.

"Besides, I find that looking for someone to put the blame on just decreases the amount of time that could be spent actually solving the problem." She added a finger extended.

Lincoln smiled then stood up.

"Okay, we've bought us some time. I'm gonna go tell everyone we're in the clear, but to stay in their rooms until we can go over the situation after lights out. Mom and dad are making soup for everyone, so be ready to pass it around."

"Agreed." Lisa nodded.

He walked down the hall and turned to Lucy and Lynn's room ready to spread the word. If that guy would just keep his trap shut for five seconds they might even make it through the evening.

He sighed and walked in the doorway. It was going to be a long day.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N:** Okay guys, thank you so much for sticking around with me. I just wanted to say before you continue reading this story, there will be some very very sad parts to this story...like 'Requiem for a Loud' kind of sad parts. _But _there will also be some really happy, funny and uplifting parts, in tradition to the Loud House's style of humor, such is the nature of life. Anyways enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own the Loud House. The Loud House was created by Chris Savino and is owned by Nickelodeon Studios. Please support the official release.**

Chapter 4: Trust

The day _finally_ carried on into the night, the minutes feeling like hours and every Loud member boy and girl writhed in their own discomfort due to the events that rocked the household to its foundation.

As declared, Lynn Sr. and Rita Loud had made everyone chicken noodle soup and tapioca pudding for dinner, which the kids had covertly brought up to their interdimensional brothers, both out of necessity for them to get some food in their systems and to maintain the guise that they were sick in bed. It felt like Lincoln had been holding his breath in all day, readying himself for the whole illusion to fall apart, but as far as he could tell, his parents hadn't suspected a thing.

It pained him that he couldn't give any food to Lynn Jr. still tied up in his sister's room and gagged with tape, but he simply couldn't trust the boy to keep his mouth shut and his emotions in check; this was a delicate situation and it had to be handled carefully. Loki had protested the treatment of his brother at first, but even he had gotten tired of boy Lynn's escape attempts and allowed him to remain restrained.

The white-haired boy now lay on his bed in his pajamas, contemplating everything that needed to be addressed at their covert meeting tonight, his mind continuously coming back to the same agonizing question again and again: why had this all gone so wrong? Yes, he understood the _how _of it, but not the _why? _Why did he have to be so reckless in helping Lisa put the machine together? Why now, after half a year later, were the images in his dream manifesting into something ten times worse than what he'd actually seen?

He tried to rationalize that if Lisa hadn't meddled with something so dangerous in the first place, that he wouldn't even be in this mess. Heck, even Lisa admitted that she was at fault for not listening to Lincoln and testing the ach anyway. Yet at the end of the day he knew he was responsible for getting them in all of this, and he knew he was responsible for getting them out.

Lincoln's pondering was interrupted by the sound of his bedroom door creaking open, and his older sister Leni stuck her head in.

"Okay Linky, the coast is see-through!", she whispered.

Lincoln strained his head trying to understand if he had heard her correctly.

"Sorry, say that again?"

"I said the coast is see-through! Mom and dad are asleep!"

"...'see-through'? You mean 'clear'?"

"Yeah! Isn't 'see-through' a...what's the word...a cinnamon for the word 'clear'?"

If his eye wasn't still healing he would have face-palmed himself harder than the time he'd taught her how to drive.

"L-leni that's not how that works, it's a figure of-you know what? I don't care. Let's just get everyone into your room."

"You got it!" she said with a firm salute.

_Oohhh Leni._

Lincoln loved his big sister a lot, but boy did he worry about her future sometimes. He supposed he could worry about everyone's future now.

Lincoln crept his way down the hall, he and Leni slowly making their way to her bedroom, lightly knocking on everyone's door to signal it was time for the meeting.

Half a minute later, they were all assembled, the girl's in their night clothes and the boy's still in their day clothes, in more or less the same positions as that afternoon. The exceptions being boy Lynn Jr. still bound and gagged now lying on Lori's bed and baby Leon asleep in his sister's crib. That image alone made him uncomfortable.

Without making a sound, Lincoln slowly closed the door and locked it, turning to face everyone as Leni turned on a lamp on her nightstand, dimly illuminating the room.

"Okay, I know that those probably weren't the most comfortable hiding spots, but thank you guys for being patient and bearing with it," Lincoln told the boys trying to sound optimistic.

"Ya think? My back is killing me! What the heck does your sister sleep on?! Rocks?!" Lexx complained.

The rest of the boy's just nodded, not very happy looking but also not the worse for ware.

"So, what now?" Asked Luke.

"Well first, we should discuss what Lisa can-"

"HRRFMHM! MFFFTCR LRMMGR!"

Muffled shouts of protest interrupted Lincoln and everyone turned to see Lynn Jr. struggling on the bed, obviously cursing at them.

"Oh right, we forgot to untie him!"

"Not so fast Leni," Lincoln said putting up his hand in protest.

"Kid, just undo the knot. I think he'll listen this time." Loki told him

"He'd better," added Lucy.

Lincoln approached Lynn on the bed and crossed his arms eyeing him suspiciously.

"Okay Lynn, we're gonna take the tape off of your mouth, but you need to promise us that you won't scream? Alright?"

Lynn just glared at Lincoln, rage in his eyes at the treatment he'd been put through. Oh if he could get his hands on that little…

Just then his stomach began to growl for everyone in the room to hear. He must have been hungry having not eaten since lunch.

"There's a hot bowl of soup with your name on it if you do as we ask. We'll even untie you so you can eat with your hands. Please?"

The jock looked like he wanted to hurl more muffled curses at them, but instead just closed his eyes and nodded. Luke and Loki proceeded to carefully peel off the tape and undo the bonds on their brother.

"Traitors…" he said to himself, while streching his arms.

Not sure what to expect from the boy, Lincoln kept up his guard, ready for him to pounce and break their agreement, but no such thing occurred and Lynn just snatched the bowl of soup offered to him by Lincoln. He sighed in relief as Lynn started to scarf the steaming bowl down spoonful by spoonful sitting on Lori's bed.

"Thank you. Look I'm sorry for all of this, but I had to-"

"For what? Calling me a douchebag, or for tying me up for three hours?"

"Both. Everything. You guys being here-"

"Just", Lynn put up both hands "shut up and tell us what we're gonna do now."

Lincoln bit back his retort and looked down at his sister Lisa prompting her to speak.

"As I was explaining earlier," she said clearing her throat, "I'm not sure how likely it is that I can obtain a second grant from the NSF through the traditional application process since I've already received one for the year. They don't exactly distribute them on a whim."

Now that the urgency to lay low had decreased, it seemed that any emotions the siblings had kept hidden about the situation were now let loose from the floodgates. Members of both parties breathing increased, and panic filled their hearts, unwilling to entertain the idea that they or their love ones could be stuck in the wrong dimension forever.

"However, after giving this some thought, I could approach this from a different angle: over the course of my career, I've assisted in a few favors among members of the board so I should be able to pull some strings and get them to 'cough up the dough' as the saying goes. Once the money is wired to my account, I'll purchase the fuel which should arrive in a matter of hours. Until then I will proceed to rebuild the arch and upon it's completion will return all of you to your proper dimension…."

Exhaling in relief at her follow up, the panic in the air wilted like a dying flower.

"Jeez, Lisa, from now on always drop the good news _first." _Lincoln told her, breathing a sigh of relief.

"...which we can expect to occur as early as next Monday." she finished.

"Next Monday?!" Most of them shouted.

"Guy's keep your freaking voices down! Mom and dad are still asleep!" Lincoln Loudly whispered.

Lisa steeled herself and grit her teeth.

"I will contact them via video chat tomorrow morning, and can expect their answer next week. It is the best I can do given the circumstances of it being a _weekend_."

"...and...if they say 'no'?" Luke asked.

"That is not a scenario I wish to entertain. Besides….I am more than confident that they will comply."

The news had hardly any calming effect. This wasn't simply something that could be solved in a few hours time, they realized, and the real fear of their situation finally caught up with them all.

"Mom and dad are like totes gonna kill us if we don't get them back by morning," said Leni looking out the window.

"Forget mom and dad! What are our sister's gonna do for four days in another dimension? They're probably scared out of their minds right now." said Luan.

"Assuming they're not dead yet," Lucy whispered.

"W-what?! Could they really be dead Lincoln?!" Lana asked, completely terrified at the prospect.

"No Lana, _of course not_." He said glaring at Lucy "They're with the guys, and they're probably trying to figure out what to do too."

Lana looked down covering her hands with her face and wept quietly.

"I just- I just want my brother back. I want my daddy." Lexx said unable to hide his dismay.

"Lexx, it's gonna be okay," Loki assured him.

"This is so not cool, dude!" Luke shouted in a low tone. "I wanna go home! I need to go home! I-I've got a gig with Chunk at 'Banger's and Mosh' tomorrow night! I've gotta life I have to get back to!"

"And I've got a football game against Beaverton on Sunday!" added Lynn.

"I know it sounds like a while guys, but it's the best Lisa could get and we're lucky to have it." Lisa had backed him up when she could have easily let him take the fall for his error and there was no way Lincoln was just going to let them tear into her.

"That's easy for you to say, dude! You're not the one who's stuck in another dimension for _four days!" _Luke retorted.

That line put Lincoln over the edge. At that moment, he couldn't care less about the black eye Luke had given him that afternoon, but for him to act like he was the only victim in this entire situation? How dare he.

"My sisters are GONE, Luke! You are _not_ the only one suffering here!"

"Lincoln's right." Loki finally perked up.

All eyes went to Loki, slowly nodding his head.

"Say what?" His brother asked.

"I said, Lincoln is right," Loki repeated getting to his feet.

"We are lucky. I mean yeah it sucks, and yeah I wanna go home and see my girlfriend and Linka and the rest of the guys, but I'd literally take three days of being stuck here than being stuck here forever any day."

He bent down on one knee and faced Lisa, hand extended.

"Thank you for helping us, Lisa. It means a lot to us."

Lisa, feeling self-conscious for the first time since this whole mess started, took his offered hand and shook it looking away.

"Of...of course. It's the least I can do.."

Okay, Lincoln definitely didn't remember Loki being this cool before. Lynn and the others behaved pretty much the same as they had in his dream, more or less, but Loki's demeanor and attitude about everything happening around him had done a complete 180 from the time he'd first met him. What changed?

Luke was equally baffled, but for very different reasons.

"Dude, what is your deal? Whose side are you on here?"

"Sides? Really? What are you five years old? There are no sides, Luke. We're all in the same boat here. They're trying to help us, and all you and Lynn are doing is complaining."

"You want to say that again, asswipe?" Luke said getting in Loki's face.

"Don't test me, Luke. I'm still the oldest one here," he answered drawing up to face him.

"I don't give a damn how old you are. Pretty sure I can still kick your ass six ways to Sunday."

Their faces were inches away from each other, and Lincoln had lost control of the situation once again. The only solace he could take was that they weren't going after his sister's this time, just each other.

"Boys, stop it!" Leni said getting in between them both a hand on each of their chests.

"Not in front of the little ones and _not _in my room, okay? They don't need to see that."

The young men looked away from each other glancing at the other occupants of the room; Lana and Lexx were both staring at them with looks that spoke both of sadness and fear, while Lucy had her hands cupped over her ears and her head down trying to block everything out. Even Lisa looked like she just wanted to run out of the room at that moment.

They both stepped back and returned to their places on the wall farther away from each other. A small smile crept up Leni's face at her victory.

Lincoln let out his held in breath, gratitude flooding him at his sister's intervention.

"Linky, where is everybody gonna sleep tonight?"

Pulled out of his thoughts Lincoln considered Leni's words, taking into account how they were going to tell their parents tomorrow while keeping everyone comfortable during the night.

"Well...as much as it pains me to say it, the only free beds we have are in all of our sister's rooms, but I can't imagine you'd want to-"

"Ohhh no! I am _not _gonna spend one-second sleeping in a room with _bucktooth_ over there!" Lana shouted.

"At least I _have_ front teeth, you booger faced hockey player!" Lexx retorted at the same volume. Luan and Luke quickly covered their hands over their sibling's mouths and shushed them to be quiet. Heart beating out of his chest, Lincoln opened the bedroom door and scanned the hallway, listening carefully for footsteps to indicate if his parents were headed upstairs to investigate the noise.

When he was sure they were in the clear, he closed the door and returned to where he was standing. Ignoring his brother's outburst Loki gave his thoughts on the matter.

"Look, if it's all the same to you Linc, I think we'd all rather just share one room. At least for tonight."

He glanced at his brothers who said nothing, only slightly nodding their heads to indicate they agreed.

"Yeah...yeah that's probably a good idea. I know were all tired so I won't keep you guys here much longer, but I think we should all wake up a little earlier than usual so we can get ready to break the news to mom and dad at breakfast. Just have you guys enter after me and the girls and warn them beforehand. That sound okay?"

"Really? That's it? Have them walk in the dining room and introduce them to mom and dad like headliners to a show? That doesn't sound right." Luan questioned.

Lincoln could see her point, and he was already considering the consequences of not only telling his mother and father that his sisters were gone, but the additional explanation that would follow as to why they had lied about it. Trust would be betrayed, and feelings would be hurt no matter how he broke the news, but he really couldn't imagine any other way of telling them.

"I don't think there is a _right_ way to tell someone their kids got sent to another dimension….but if you have any better suggestions Lu, I'm all ears."

All eyes went to Luan, genuine curiosity at what she had in mind. The ponytailed girl simply put a hand over her eyes and two tears slowly fell down her cheeks.

"No. You're right. We just need to break it to them slowly and show them what happened." _What were you gonna suggest, Luan? _She berated herself, _Open with a joke? __So stupid._

Everyone muttered their agreements, too tired to put up a fight about it or offer up their ideas about how to break the news. It wasn't perfect, but it was all they had, and it was certainly better than Rita and Lynn Sr. finding out for themselves.

"Leni? Would it be okay if the guys slept in your room and you bunked with Luan for the night?"

"Sure! I've always wanted to sleep in a bunkbed. Oh, I call topsies!" Leni said excitedly.

Loki smiled at that. That may not have been his brother talking but Leni seemed to have the exact same carefree personality as Loni to a fault; a little ditzy at times, but always willing to help someone regardless of who they were. If that's who she really was as well then they would get along just fine. Well...assuming she didn't hold a grudge about the whole groping incident...

"Alright, get some sleep everyone. Our situation just went from hopeless, to hopeful. I think we can let ourselves feel a small victory at that."

"Pfft, if this is winning to you, I'd sure hate to see what losing looks like."

"Shut up, Lynn." Said Loki.

They all started to file out of the room one by one and Lincoln was about to head back to his small bedroom-converted linen closet at the end of the hall when he felt a tiny hand tug at his sleeve. He turned to see Lana, hands clasped and looking down at her feet.

"Linky...c-can I sleep with you tonight? I don't wanna be in my room by myself in the dark..."

He pulled his sister into a big hug, which she returned squeezing her older brother tight.

"Course' you can, ya little Greasemonkey. There's always room for one more in my bed."

"Thanks, Lincoln," she sniffed.

Walking down the hall and holding his sister's hand he opened the door and let Lana jump in first, tucked her in and then joined her under the covers. The last time he let someone bunk with him had been a colossally bad idea, but his sister was heartbroken without Lola and naturally afraid to sleep in her room by herself. It was time to be a decent older brother.

"Sleep tight. Let me know if you need anything. You did really good today, keeping mom and dad from finding out."

"It...it didn't feel good to lie to them..."

He shared her feelings exactly but knew in his heart that it was necessary.

"I know. We'll tell them tomorrow and I promise you won't get in any trouble."

"I don't care about that!" She said eyes filling up with new tears. "Lincoln…", she gulped, "we're gonna get Lola back, right?"

He put his hand on her face and gave her a reassuring smile, "I will make it my one purpose in life to get her back if I have to, Lana."

"A-and Lori, Luna, Lynn, and Lily too?"

Chuckling he said, "Heh heh, yes and all the others too….but Lori's gonna have to drive me to the comicbook store for at least a year when she gets home." he joked with her trying to lighten the mood a little.

Fresh tears slid down her cheeks and she buried her face into her brother's chest sobbing, the joke unsuccessful. "Don't go anywhere, okay? I love you, Linky."

"It's okay, I'm right here Lana. I love you too," he said holding her tight.

The two siblings just lay there for minutes clutching each other, the younger one terrified of letting go for fear that he might disappear as her sister's had. Eventually, her sobbing grew quieter, her breathing returned to a steady in and out pace and she lay against her brother's body, finally asleep.

…...

This was not Loki Loud's bedroom. That thought cemented itself in his mind as he scanned the surroundings of the place he would sleep tonight: the walls were painted a light turquoise rather than a dark tan, the carpet a smug gray color instead of light blue, and all of the furniture was painted white with some kind of cute decal or girlish painting on the side of it. The posters featured boy bands and cute kittens instead of his classic movie posters and the sheets of what was supposed to be his bed were sky blue instead of black. Weird couldn't begin to describe how messed up this situation was.

The brunette girl whom everyone called Luan suddenly walked in, arms full of blankets. "Hi...I uh just wanted to bring you guys some extra padding for tonight in case the floor was too hard."

Although caught up in their similarities upon first seeing her ,the differences between Luan and his brother Lane were now striking. They both had that dorkish vibe to them, no doubt emphasized by the metal wiring of their braced teeth, yet Luan's hair was in a ponytail rather than a bowl cut and she was slightly shorter than Lane by about three inches. Realizing he'd been staring at her for far too long he took the offered blankets and spread them out on the floor for his brothers to sleep on.

"Um...thanks Luan." He answered trying the name out loud for the first time.

"No problem. _Loki _for you, we had some extras." She told him smiling.

The pun didn't register until about five seconds after she said it, but he quickly recovered himself and forced a small chuckle. "Oh! Yeah...that's...that's literally my name...," he said looking sideways.

_Same stupid puns at least,_ he thought.

_Same overuse of the word 'literally', _she thought.

She quickly looked down avoiding eye contact and berated herself at her attempt to be funny. No, this obviously wasn't the time, and that pun was lame even by her own standards. She quickly turned around and made her exit.

"Well...goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow," she said closing the door.

"Goodnight."

Loki suddenly felt guilty. He knew she was just trying to make them feel a bit more at ease with the situation, but his own thoughts on the matter had just prevented her from doing so.

"I still don't get your deal dude…" Luke told him laying on Leni's bed

Damn it all, he was too tired for this.

Sighing he inquired, "What don't you get, Luke?"

"Why you're being so chummy with these people? Lynn's right; they're not our family, we don't even know them, so how can you possibly be this calm?"

"First of all, yeah we kinda _do_ know them. They look, talk and even act like our sibs, so I don't have any reason to _not _trust them. And second, who says I'm calm? I'm literally just as freaked out about all of this as you guys are. The difference between you and me though, is that I want to keep the peace. They're trying to help us get back, and in case you haven't noticed, we don't have a lot of other options _but_ to trust them."

Luke opened his mouth as if to argue but instead looked down and away from his brother's scolding gaze. He knew his brother had a point. He always had a point. It was one of the things that drove him insane about him.

"It's called 'not biting the hand that feeds you', Luke."

"Alright...I-I get it..I _do _get it," he said, not meeting his eyes. "I just wanna dip and go home, man….and I'm really _really_ not ready for tomorrow…."

Loki bent down and put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Neither am I, but I promise you we're gonna get through this together. Just like always. You're all good, Luke."

He offered his fist to him, but rather than bumping knuckles, Luke pulled his eldest sibling into a hug. Loki sighed in relief and returned the hug, relieved that they were on good terms again.

"God, you guys are pussies." a voice commented interrupting their moment.

"Shut up, Lynn!" They both snapped.

Lynn turned his back to them both and lay motionless on his spot on the floor.

"Get some shuteye, kay?" he said to Luke.

"Yeah. You too. As long as jockstrap over there gets some _shut-mouth._" he whispered.

Loki chuckled at that and then slowly tucked himself into Lori's bed. It was comfortable enough, but it definitely wasn't his. For now, he would just have to be okay with that.

"L-loki?" a small voice called.

He opened his eyes to see Lexx standing at his bedside.

"What is it bud?"

"...the floor's kinda hard. Can I sleep in your bed with you?"

Loki was taken aback. The last time he shared a bed with his siblings was when Linka had been born nearly eight years ago when he wanted to be the first to hold and cuddle his newborn baby sister. He wanted to say no because part of him just wanted the bed to himself, but he could tell just by Lexx's body language that it wasn't just the floor that was bothering him; he needed someone close to him in order to fall asleep tonight.

Opening the covers and gesturing to Lexx he told him, "Sure. Hop in, little man." He climbed into bed and tried to get comfortable.

Loki closed his eyes again and tried to just empty his mind of everything he knew he was missing right now; his father and sister and how worried they must be if they didn't already know about him being gone. His brother Loni and the confused expression he was probably wearing, his girlfriend Bebe and the last text that she had sent to him before he got sent here. If what she said was true, then this was the worst possible time to be stuck in another dimension. But more than anything, he tried to empty his mind about his mother, who was now sleeping right below him, and how he and his brother's would react upon seeing her tomorrow.

Sleeping proved to be rather difficult, as his brother started crying all over the sheets whispering his twin brother's name over and over again. Holding back his own tears at his brother's dismay, he wrapped his arm around his little brother's chest and pulled him closer, finding that soothing his brother was the only thing he could do to keep his own thoughts from racing.

Turning off the lamp, Luke pulled up the covers and sadly muttered to himself,

"Goodnight, Loud House..."

...

_To_ say Lincoln was confused about his current surroundings would have been an understatement. _Though_ he fantasized about it on a regular basis, Lincoln was not accustomed to the sensation of floating. Tumbling ass over teakettle, slowly but safely, from whatever place resided above him, he finally managing to reunite with gravity,and steadied himself in the second story hallway of his house. As he scanned his current surroundings a feeling of awe now enraptured his emotions; the walls, doors, and floor underneath him were completely black, the only thing distinguishing one from the other were streaks of white outlining every surface.

Looking down at his hands, they too were only discernible by a thin white outline around his finger tips. Scared wasn't quite the right word to describe how he was feeling. Confused, definitely, but not particularly panicked. Mostly confused about why he was standing there alone and why the house's usual ruckus was now completely absent. Maybe Lucy and Lynn knew. Out of his confused daze, he turned right to his sister's room to investigate. He knocked on the door once just to make sure he didn't walk in on one of them while they were changing. "Hello?" No answer. "Lynn? Lucy? You in there?" Still no response.

That was weird. If they weren't interested in seeing him, they never just ignored him. In fact they usually made it a big deal whenever he disturbed them, usually telling him to get lost in one form or another. Growing impatient at his treatment, he opened the door and let himself in. What he saw next caused a wave of unease to wash over him; the room was completely empty. Not just devoid of people but devoid of...anything. Lucy's coffin, Lynn's bed, her sports locker, and punching bag, it was all gone. Just an empty room, with a single window were all he could see.

Wary, but no yet frightened, he walked out of his sister's room and decided to try Luan and Luna' time without knocking he let himself in and asked, "Hey girls, why are all of Lucy a Lynn's stuff gone.." his voice trailed off as he took in his current surroundings. This room was empty too. Now a nervous rush started to wrap around his heart, as his confusion increased tenfold. This isn't right. He told himself. This doesn't make any sense. Heart-beat accelerating, he rushed out of their room and made way for Lori and Leni's, now desperately clinging to the hope that they would have answers for him.

True panic overtook him, as he discovered their room just as empty as the other two. "W-where are you guys?" he stuttered. "Lana? Lola? What's happening?" Empty. "Lisa? LIly? Are you there?" Empty as well. Everyone of his sister's rooms were completely devoid of any sign that they'd been there in the first place. His hopes were doubly crushed after he was done checking the bathroom and his own room for extra measure, but they were nowhere to be found. "Okay, just calm down Linc. They're probably fine. You still haven't checked downstairs yet." he assured himself. Descending the steps, his worries were stifled and his heart rate began to return to normal as he could make out the sounds of voices in the living room.

When he turned the corner he expected to see his entire family waiting there for him, but was instead greeted by what he could only describe as...figures. Over a dozen dark, translucent, prone on the ground, figures, that seemed to be communicating with each other in a muffled speech. Walking in the middle of his living room to get a closer look, he scanned each of them with caution; they all appeared to be in some kind of...sleeping position. Hands tucked behind heads, arms crossed, or placed under their faces as a kind of cushion. Any attempt at getting their attention was fruitless as they didn't give any sign that they heard or could even see him.

Sooo...was he a ghost? Or were they the ghosts? He couldn't make heads or tails of it. Where was he? Where was his family? Without warning, a sudden flash of light radiated out from one of the figures on his right side, sending his heart rate back to it's too elevated light was a translucent green, writhing and outlining the figure in some kind of sitting position, yet there was no chair to be seen underneath it. Every instinct he had told him to bolt from the room, and search for his family elsewhere, but he needed answers and that figure's presence felt more cemented in reality than any of the other ones surrounding him. Hesitantly, he outstretched his hand to get it's attention by tapping its slumped shoulder.

"H...hello-" unable to finish his greeting, his felt his finger being rapidly sucked into the glowing body in front of him. Panicked gasps escaped his throat as he tried with all of his might to break free of its enclosing form, but not even his other hand could pull him out. The green ooze started to crawl up his arm, and to his horror, it felt completely numb, like his arm didn't even belong to him anymore. True terror now invaded his senses, so much so that he couldn't even scream for help.

"Lincoln."

This couldn't be happening.

"Lincoln!"

He was trapped. He was just trying to find his sister's, this wasn't right, it wasn't-

"LINCOLN!"

…...

Waking with a gasp, and sweat pouring down his face Lincoln flexed the fingers on his right hand to make sure they were still his. To his relief, they were. Fully pulled out of his sleep filled daze, he glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand and saw that it was only 2:47 in the morning.

_So much for sleeping._

"Lincoln."

He nearly jumped out of his bed at the voice he heard to his right but refrained from screaming as he recognized the silhouette of his little sister Lucy standing at his bedside. Sweet mother of Ace Savvy, why did she always have to do that?

"You were a having a nightmare. Are you okay?"

He gathered his senses and refrained from telling her to get out after the scare she'd just given him. "I'm fine.", he lied wiping the sweat off his brow.

"I'll just...head back to my room now." Lucy told him, turning to leave him.

"Lucy, wait!" he called in a whisper. "What is it? Did you need something?"

The goth girl faced her brother, a look of reluctance on the lower part of her face where her bangs didn't cover it.

"Sigh...I can't sleep." She explained without actually sighing. "I got used to Lynn's ball throwing. It's like white noise for me now and I just can't sleep without it. Would you mind if I joined you and Lana?"

Lincoln sighed and opened up his covers to make room for his sister. What were twelve more inches of legroom gone at this point?

"Come on in."

_Yep. Always room for one more, _he thought.

Lucy climbed in and assumed her usual 'dead' pose she'd always done whenever she laid down on her back, arms across her chest like a freshly embalmed corpse.

He turned to his side and shifted his legs trying to get comfortable without disturbing his still sleeping sister Lana.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Lucy suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Your dream. Do you wanna talk about what you dreamt? I'm actually quite skilled at interpreting dreams and could probably give you some insight-"

"Look Lucy, no offense but I really just wanna go back to sleep, okay?"

His sister went silent and returned to her sleeping position.

"Right. Sorry."

He didn't mean to be so cold to his sister, but he just wanted to forget about the dream and get as much sleep as he could before he had to deal with tomorrow's events. Besides, he knew what it had meant; the fear of losing his family and the sight of seeing his sister Lynn disappear in front of him had manifested itself into his subconscious. It would've been weird if he hadn't had a nightmare that night given all the stress he was under.

Lynn...she had pushed him out of the way trying to protect him. He'd bet money that if she knew what that beam was going to do to her, where it was going to take her, she would have let him take it at full force, and he wouldn't have blamed her for it. He had cracked after hardly a day had gone by, being stuck in the other dimension, so how on earth was she going to handle four?

Her act of kindness made his heart-ache, and now more than in any other point of his life he wanted her here by his side. To tell her how grateful he was, and how much she meant to him. They had just entered a new period of camaraderie and friendship in their previously strained relationship, so why the hell did all of this have to happen now?

The three of them lay there in darkness for almost ten minutes, the only sound coming from Lana's light breathing when Lucy piped up again.

"Lincoln, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? It's okay sis, I just wanna go back to bed is-"

"No, not that. I'm...I'm really sorry about what I said at the meeting tonight."

Lincoln thought back and remembered how she'd brought up the possibility that all of their missing sisters may have already lost their lives.

"You were just trying to keep everyone calm, and I only made everyone more freaked out."

"Lucy…"

She let out a choked sob and put her hand to her mouth, shattering any illusion that she felt no emotions.

"But the truth is I'm scared too..and...and I just want Lynn and the other's back."

The monotone to her voice dropped, she burst into tears and wept at full force. Lincoln turned to face her and wrapped his little sister in his arms, shushing her, and gently rubbing her back. She returned the hug and wept louder into the crook of his neck.

"Shhshh it's okay spooky, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm not mad. It's okay to be scared. I'm scared too." he assured her.

"What if that was the last time I ever see Lynn? What if that was it, and I never got to say goodbye..." she sobbed.

"Oh Luce.."

"What if we're stuck with that jerkwad Lynn until the day we die?!"

His sister's fears about her family were breaking his heart, but he had to go through this with her. What kind of brother would he be if he just let her sit with those thoughts in her head all night?

"Lucy, Lucy, look at me. Look at me."

She paused her whimpering and looked up at him, his hand parting the bangs that normally blocked her eyes from anyone's view.

"That is not the last time you see Lynn, and that guy is not gonna be here until the day we die. We have a plan, remember? We're gonna get them home."

She gave a shaky nod of her head, then her sobbing was broken by a sudden tightness to her voice.

"I hate him...I hate him so much, and I wish he would just go away."

"Who, boy Lynn? Ya gotta understand kid, he's just blowing off steam right now. He probably would never admit it, but he's terrified. As a matter of fact, he probably has it the worst of us, the way he's been acting."

"Our Lynn would never lash out like that. All he's done since he got here is cause problems and insult us….I just wanna punch him in the face. Luke too, for what he did to your eye."

Lincoln was...a bit skeptical about that first part but refrained from commenting on it. If he knew his sister Lynn, he knew how violent she could get if she was backed into a corner. Which now that he thought about it, was exactly the position he'd put boy Lynn into that afternoon, tying him up and gagging him as quickly as they did.

It became apparent that Lucy wasn't just sad, she was furious. He understood what she was trying to convey, but the last thing he should do was encourage that kind of behavior no matter how much he agreed with the problems she vented.

"Please don't do that, okay? That's only gonna make things worse between us and the guys." What she needed was an outlet, something to help her channel all of this newfound anger. Thankfully for him, she already had one.

"Tell ya what; tomorrow after we break the news to mom and dad, write me a poem about everything you think about him and this whole messed up day. I wanna hear it all. I won't judge you and I won't think any less of you no matter what you write. Deal?"

She looked up at him and wiped her tear soaked face with the back of her hand.

"Deal," she answered him, the corners of her mouth perking up in a small smile.

She held her brother tight and slowly but surely her crying turned to whimpers which then returned to her normal steady breathing.

"I could do it ya know." She suddenly said.

"Do what?"

"Sock him in the face…" She said as if he didn't believe her.

"I don't doubt that you could" he answered chuckling, "but let's save those hands of yours for something really funny and artistic, okay Rocky?"

"Okay."

He kissed her forehead, disengaged the hug, and returned to their sleeping positions, satisfied that they both said what they needed to say. However, Lucy seemed to have one last question for her brother before he finally returned to dreamland.

"Hey, Lincoln?"

"Yeah?"

"...what do you think Lori, Lynn and the other's are doing right now? In the other dimension, I mean?"

That thought had crossed his mind tonight too many times to count. As much as he'd reassured his family that they were all okay, even he couldn't be a hundred percent positive. Were they truly safe? Were they scared? Were they coming up with a plan as to how to get back, and waiting for the right moment to break the news to the Loud parents over there?

These questions dominated his thoughts more than anything, but another question, one that managed to wedge itself to the front of his mind gave him pause. Luna had told him that she had a surprise for him in her room, right before he went to go help Lisa finish putting together the machine.

What was it she was going to show him? Would he even see her again for him to find out? Would he ever get to listen to her play on her guitar ag-

_No. Stop. Don't even go there. _He berated himself. _We ARE getting them back._

Exhausted, Lincoln closed his eyes and simply answered, "I don't know. But they're okay, Lucy. They have to be."

...

Heavy right? You ain't seen nothing yet. Next chapter we see what Lori and the others are up to in dimension #2


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: WARNING, THIS IS PROBABLY THE SADDEST CHAPTER IN "INTO THE LOUD-VERSE. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. No but seriously, thanks so much for reading guys, I never expected to get this many followers, you guys are awesome. Enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own the Loud House. It is owned by Nickelodeon studios. **

Chapter 5: Reality

**8 hours ago in a dimension far far away...**

The hallway was spinning and her head was throbbing, as Lori Loud got to her feet and placed her hands on the wall to stabilize herself. _What literally just happened? _She wondered. She had just exited the bathroom when something big and green came flying at her from across the hall, sending her to the floor, the wind completely knocked out of her lungs.

_Wait a second...big and green….Lisa! _

The whole situation stank of her little sister's handiwork. It was one thing for her to pull some stupid experiment on her other siblings, but no one messed with Lori Loud. At least no one who didn't soon end up as a human pretzel.

"Lisa! Lisa?! What freaky science experiment did you just hit me with?!" she shouted.

She marched down the hall, arms straight, ready to reign down hell on the little scientist. The last time she'd been the victim of one of Lisa's experiments, her skin had turned purple right before her own homecoming dance, and if she'd cut her slack for that little incident before, there was no way she would now. Kids at school still called her _Thanos _behind her back, whoever that was.

Not even bothering to knock she kicked open the door to Lisa and Lily's bedroom.

"Lisa, get out here! What did you do?!"

A few things caught her attention at once; the fact that the carpet was blood red rather than it's nauseating barf green color, what sounded like opera music playing on an ipod amidst all of the equipment and gadget's on Lisa's desk, and a series of large metallic discs stacked on top of each other, each one smaller than the next going upward. She didn't remember the carpeting being redone in her sister's room and that wasn't usually what Lisa was into in terms of music.

There was no one else in the room except for her and a crying Lily still in her crib. The crib as well, was not it's usual purple color, and instead gleamed a shiny metallic red. She went to her baby sister and picked her up, gently cradling her to calm her down.

"Daww I'm so sorry Lily, did your big sister wake you?" she said realizing her own mistake.

Looking up at her sister and recognizing her face, Lily babbled cheerfully and put one tiny hand against Lori's cheek.

Panic soon kicked in, as Lori noticed little wisps of smoke that seemed to be coming from Lily's crib. She bent down closer to find the source but as far as she could tell there was no sign of a fire or imminent danger. Scanning the room once more for the little scientist, she was nowhere to be found. Something here wasn't right.

"Why are you here by yourself, and...why does your room look so different?" she asked more to herself than to Lily.

A voice from the hall interrupted her train of thought.

"Hey, Loki? Where ya at man?"

That didn't sound like anyone she recognized. It was too deep to be Lincoln's but far too young sounding to be her father's. One of Leni's friends? A figure entered the doorway holding up what looked like a navy blue robe with silver trimming and arcane symbols all over the fabric.

"What gives bro? You promised me you'd try it on if I did your laundry for you," he told her.

Lori did not know the young man standing there. He had a handsome face, short blonde hair, and a turquoise silk sweater with dark blue jeans. A pair of sunglasses rested on his head, yet the most striking thing about him was that he featured an uncanny physical resemblance to her sister Leni; the same ocean blue eyes and round cheekbones complimenting his appearance. But there was no way that was her.

His eyes focused on Lori standing in the room with the baby still in her arms.

Frowning in confusion, he surveyed his surroundings not quite understanding what he was seeing.

"Uh...am I in the wrong room again?" he asked.

"Who are you?" she demanded, her heartbeat suddenly quickening.

"I'm...Loni Loud. Who are you?"

"Loni Loud? There is no Loni Loud!" Lori exclaimed.

"There's not? Oh no! Then who am I?!" he answered in a panic. "Oh wait right!"

The young man quickly took a wallet out of his pocket and looked at the picture inside experimentally. Putting his wallet back he looked at the girl before him and said, "Phew...it's okay now. I definitely know I'm Loni Loud. My bros got this for me in case I wasn't sure. For reals though, like did my brother invite you here or something?"

"Invite me? I live here! What the hell are you talking about?" Was this some kind of joke?

He put up his hands defensively and told her,

"Whoa whoa just take it easy, it's totes okay if he did, he just usually tells everyone before is all."

"Get away from me!", she said panic in her voice and slowly backing away. Lori didn't know who this guy was, or what he wanted but she damn sure didn't want him anywhere near her and Lily.

He dropped the robe and tried to approach her.

"Hey it's okay, I just wanna know what's happening!"

"You can take whatever you want, just don't hurt me and my sister," she told him thinking he was a burglar.

That last sentence gave him pause. "...your sister? You mean _my_ brother?" he asked one eyebrow raised. This was insane. This guy was clearly insane, and for all she knew, dangerous if he could get into the house without anyone else noticing.

"Look this was kinda funny at first, but now it's getting kinda weird. Can you hand over my brother please?" He asked arms extended.

"STAY AWAY FROM US!" She shouted sprinting through the doorway and slamming it behind her. Lori grabbed the knob with her free hand to prevent the man from getting out and tried to think of everything she needed to do to keep her family safe. Never once had she ever imagined something like this happening to her in her own house, but she was still the eldest and had a duty to protect her family no matter what. Putting her fingers to her lips, about to summon her whole family with a whistle, she was interrupted when the door behind her opened all the way and a tiny pink form grabbed her by the leg.

"Loriiiiiii! Somethings wrong with Lana! She's way more gross than usual, her teeth look weird, and she thinks I'm a boy for some reason!" she cried.

Ignoring her sister's distress she bent down and looked her Lola in the eye trying to keep the panic from her own voice. "Lola, there's someone in Lily's room! Someone we don't know. We need to get the girls and Lincoln and lock ourselves in my room, okay?"

The six-year-old coiled in fear. "In Lily's room?! Like a stranger?"

"Uh...I think the door is stuck.", the man called from inside, jiggling the handle.

"Yes, now take Lily, head to my room and lock the door! I'll keep this creep inside for as long as I can." She said handing the baby to Lola.

"B-but what about you?"

"I'll be fine! Just do what I tell you!"

If what she thought was happening was happening there was no time to argue.

"Lexx you jerk! Whadja hit me for? I just said your dress was a little girly!" a high pitched voice said from her little sister's room. "Seriously, you're asking' for a bruising you little…"

A child around the same height as her twin sister stepped outside Lola's bedroom and looked them up and down not sure what she was seeing. She wore the same pocket filled suspenders and red hat that Lana wore, but there was something definitely wrong with the rest of her look.

For starters the gap in her teeth where she had lost her front incisors was now filled, she wasn't wearing a shirt underneath, and her hair was shorter than normal.

Lana didn't just look like a tomboy anymore. As far as Lori could tell, she was a boy. The new arrival suddenly burst out laughing and bent down trying to contain himself, a slightly deeper sounding cackle than what Lori was used to hearing from her sister.

"You _too, _Loki? Wow, you guys lose a bet or something?" he asked wiping the tears from his eyes and giving a buck-tooth grin.

"Who is Loki?! Who the hell are you people?!" she demanded, panic filling her voice.

The door to Lisa's room was pulling against her hand trying to get open, but she gripped the knob tighter leaning even further away from it. Whatever this was, it was bigger than she had first guessed, and her heart was racing at the thought that there might be more strangers in the house.

"Hey who's laughing? Did I miss something funny?" a voice called down the hall.

This time it came from Lucy and Lynn's room, and two more strangers stuck their heads out of the doorway. One belonged to an older boy with a brunette bowl cut holding a camcorder, the other a younger boy dressed all in black and white, with pale white skin. They too, both bore an uncanny resemblance to her sister's Luan and Lucy.

"Hey bro? Who are the dames?" The older one asked moving the camcorder away from his eye. The young goth boy just shrugged and shook his head unsure.

Lori couldn't help it anymore, and she let out a panicked scream at the sight of the two boys who were supposed to be her sisters, soon followed by Lola's high pitched squeal.

The two boys took a step back in surprise of the girl's reaction to seeing them, and the tension in the hallway was rising. To Lori's relief, her young rocker sister ran past the two boys and put her hand on Lori's shoulder trying to get her attention.

"Lori! Dudes, either Luan's pulling a gnarly prank on us, or something really trippy is going on around the house!"

"Ya think?!", she screamed. still trying to keep the door closed in a two-handed grip over the handle.

"Who's that?" the brunette asked squinting at Luna.

"Hey...you guy's sound different..and why're you holding the door closed?" The boy in the red hat questioned, "You know that's terrible for the handle, righ-"

Losing her grip, the door swung inward knocking the boy called Loni in the face and caused him to rip off the handle. She broke her fall with her hands, and scrambled to get back to her feet. "Dang It..." He muttered knob still in his hand and rubbing his face at the newly formed pain. Stupid house.

Now on her feet, Lori grabbed Luna and Lola's by the wrists and sprinted down the hall towards Lincoln's room ignoring the boy's protests as they were now starting to realize that those girls were not they're brothers.

That was the only safe haven she could think of at this point, as her sister's bomb shelter was too far away, and they didn't have a panic room for anything like this. She threw open the door and the four sisters piled into the tiny room and locked it.

"Lincoln! Something's wrong with our sisters! We need to get outta here and wait for mom and dad at Mr. Grouse's...", she trailed off scanning the room and a pit formed in her throat taking in the details of her surroundings.

The walls were painted pink, paper hearts and stars hung from the ceiling and all their brother's knick-knacks and toys were replaced by either books, writing utensils, or small jewelry boxes. The figure lying on Lincoln's bed sighed and finally moved the comic away from her face to see what her annoying brothers wanted.

"...two minutes. That's all I asked for, was two minutes of reading Ace Savvy in pea-" The girl's eyes widened and she let out a high pitched shriek, recognizing the four faces standing above her immediately.

The sisters, in turn, screamed back at the sight before them, partly startled at the sudden rise of decibels in the cramped space.

In place of their brother was a young girl with an orange blouse, and dark blue skirt, her long white hair going past her shoulders. She even wore an orange hair clip on the front preventing her hair from getting in the way of her eyes and white pearl earrings dotted each earlobe. She was the textbook definition of femininity, and yet she wore their brother's face, freckles and all.

This condition, or whatever it was, was evidently not exclusive to the female residences of the Loud house.

"What are you guys doing here?! You're not supposed to be real!" she exclaimed putting the comic down and scrambling up the bed.

"Lincoln...what happened to you? And why do you look so...cute?" Lola asked a hand on her hip.

"ROIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Luna suddenly shouted shaking her head out of her terrified trance. The rocker lifted the girl on Lincoln's bed by the collar and brought her face inches to the white-haired girl's.

"I'M ABOUT TO BLOW A CASKET, SO LISSEN GOOD, GURL! HOO ARE YOU AND WHAT THE BLOODY ELL' HAS HAPPENED TO OUR SISTERS AND BRUTHUR?!" She bellowed. Lori questioned the necessity for Luna to put on a bad British accent, but if it got them some answers she really didn't care what she sounded like.

The girl tried to get free of Luna's grip but gave up and choked out, "I-I'm not exactly sure, but I have a few ideas, just please put me down!"

"_Linka! Are you okay in there?!"_ A voice called from the hallway.

"I-I'm alright guys, just hold on a second." She answered

"_Who's in there with you?"_

"_Open the damned door!"_

What sounded like a pair of feet came running up the stairs and a new voice joined in the barrage of questions.

"_Guy's what's happening?"_

"_Some crazy chicks just walked into our house, nabbed Leon and locked themselves in with Linka."_

_Leon? Crazy chicks? Their house?_

"_Where's Loki and Luke, bro? We need the extra muscle!"_ someone said trying to force open the door.

"_I-I thought that was Loki and Luke..."_

"Th-they're gonna get in…" Lola whispered clutching Lily to her chest.

"I mean it girly! What do you know about all of this?" Luna demanded

"What I know," she answered still struggling to get free, "is that I've got eleven brothers standing outside that door, and it sounds like you managed to piss off all of them."

"So what?!"

"_So, _they're kinda protective of me. And I'd hate to be the poor sap who thought they could rough up their only sister and get away with it." she told her, aggression creeping into her voice.

Luna glanced sideways, listening to the sound of the repeated blows against the door, the aggression intensifying with each slam.

"It's Luna, right? And you're Lori and Lola?" the white-haired girl asked.

She lowered her to the bed absorbing the eleven-year old's words. The three sisters just stared at her unsure of what to make of any this.

"How do you know my name?"

She straightened her blouse and met their eyes, her initial fear replaced with an angry resignation.

"Because we've met before."

"_Dude, I think they're hurting her!"_

"_Oh no, they're not!"_ the new voice suddenly shouted.

A loud thump hit the door causing the wood around the knob to splinter. Whoever was on the other side they were determined to get in, and wouldn't let something as petty as a lock get in their way. It thumped hard two more times, causing Lola to cry out in fear, and then the lock was finally ejected from its place in the door and swung open, revealing an angry Lynn Jr. carrying a baseball bat. Or at least who they thought was Lynn Jr.

"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER YOU FREAKS!" he shouted and jumped on Luna's back causing her to stumble out the door trying to shake him off.

They're conflict continued outside the small room, as the boy Lynn Jr. wouldn't let go and was now demanding answers himself and Lori watched in horror as all the boys tried to swarm her sister for locking herself in with the girl called Linka.

Fight or flight suddenly kicked in and without thinking, Lori grabbed Lola's arm during the confusion and pulled her out of the room and down the stairs before they were surrounded by the strange boys crowding the hallway.

"Wait, Lori, we need to help Luna!" she protested.

"We'll come back for her, but we need to keep you and Lily safe!" she answered guiding her sister down the stairs in quick steps. They heard more shouting but didn't bother to turn around and see who was hurt, they just had to get out of this madhouse before something else happened.

Reaching the bottom steps Lori threw open the front door and ran out to the front drive, Lola and Lily still on her tail. Fear and guilt welled up in her at leaving Luna behind but she had every intention of going back for her when she was sure her younger sisters were safe at Mr. Grouses house and the police were contacted.

Rounding the entrance to their garage nothing could have prepared Lori for the heavy object that collided with her forehead knocking her off her feet and onto her back. She fought through the pain and the ringing of her ears and tried to push herself up but found herself unable to.

Her sisters still needed her. The last thing she remembered hearing was Lola's terrified voice calling for her father's help before darkness consumed her vision. Then nothing.

…**..**

"...Linka's right. That's definitely not Loki."

"She _smells_ like Loki."

"How do you know what Loki smells like?"

"Dude, we've lived with him all our lives; how do you _not _know what Loki smells like?"

"Stop sniffing my sister ya little creep!"

"Sorry."

"Uh...she wakin' up soon?"

"Affirmative. I've examined the dilation of her pupils earlier and that blow to her cranium did not concuss her."

"Can't believe you hit a girl, dad..."

"Hey, I told you it was an accident! I didn't see her behind me."

"Is she gonna be okay, daddy?"

Before Lola's question could be answered, Lori started to stir at the muffled voices she could make out all around her, and for the second time today, woke to a painful throbbing enveloping her skull.

She could feel what must've been a bandage wrapped around her forehead, and struggled to open her eyes trying to take in all the information in front of her. The first face she saw was inches from her nose, a pale complection with piercing blue eyes.

She reeled back on the couch she was laying on putting as much distance between her and that face as possible, and her vision started to come into focus.

"Lars! Get off the couch! Give her some breathing room." The voice of her father commanded.

The boy called Lars promptly hopped off the edge of the couch and stood staring at the girl splayed out in front of him. Everyone from the confrontation in the hallway was there, including Lori's sisters and the strange yet familiar looking boys she'd seen that afternoon.

"Lori!" Lola cried running up to her and wrapping her arms around her sister's neck. Thank God, she was safe.

"Hey, kiddo." Greeted the voice of her father.

"D-dad?" She turned her head to look at him and felt a brief wave of relief at hearing his voice. The relief soon turned to startled surprise as she took in his full profile; he had the same middle age build and receding hairline but instead of a clean-shaven face, he had grown a handlebar mustache and was wearing a bright pink sweater instead of his usual dark green.

Quick panicked breaths started to escape her throat, as the memories of the day's events started to flood her mind. She steeled herself and cleared her throat.

"You're not my dad!" she accused voicing her discovery.

"Uh, no I-I'm afraid I'm not. That's kinda the bad news." He answered feeling awkward. "The good news though is that you're gonna be fine, and there's no serious damage from that blow to your noggin'. Right, Levi?"

"Correct." A young boy with glasses answered. "If there were, we'd have delivered you to the emergency room awhile ago for special treatment."

He spoke just like Lisa, using the same over-complicated vocabulary her little sister did with a tiny lisp at the end of every 's' sound. His hair was much shorter and he sported a white scientist's coat rather than a turtle-neck sweater.

"How ya doing, sis?" Luna asked approaching her. Relief at the sight of Luna stayed with her this time. The pain to her skull was nauseating and the living room was still wobbly in her dazed vision, but she put all that aside in favor of answering how she was doing emotionally.

"Literally the most confused I've ever been in my entire life. What's going on? Who are these people?"

Before the young rocker could answer, Lori noticed a deep cut on Luna's lower jaw and bruises on her left cheek.

"What happened to your lip? They didn't hurt you did they?"

"I'm good, sis. The other Lynn just roughed me up a bit, but I'll live."

'_Other Lynn'? Oh man, she must've gotten hitten harder than I did._

"Luna listen to me.", she put her hand over her sister's and looked her in the eye. "I don't know what these people told you, but there is no other Lynn. Where are Lincoln and the others?"

"Uh...actually there is…" a voice answered to her right. The girl in the orange blouse they'd run into earlier approached Lori from behind the boys, hands clasped in front of her. Her body language gave off a sense of fragility, like she knew some dirty secret and was ashamed to be there at all. She'd almost think it were cute in any other circumstances, but the girl obviously knew something that she didn't.

"Um...hi Lori."

"...who are you, and why do you look like my little brother?" she asked a touch of venom in her voice after asking for what felt like the millionth time.

"My name's Linka. Linka Loud." She rubbed the sides of her head and took a deep breath. "Look, this is gonna take a while to explain so sit back and just remember to breath, okay? I'll answer any and every question that you have."

…**..**

"...after Luna knocked him off her back, he tackled me to the floor to keep me away from her, and then our Lynn just…'morphed'. Your sister Lynn said she pushed Lincoln out of the way of a beam on your guy's side and then she woke up here. I'm guessing you got hit by something similar. Things got under control when Levi and dad ran up the stairs and stopped all the boys from going ham on Luna." She explained for the second time today.

Luna shuddered at the mention of that moment, remembering the boys physically restraining her after she got free of boy Lynn Jr.'s grip. Otherwise, she seemed unharmed except for the bruises on her cheek.

"Wait...Linka I like get that there are times we're not the easiest guys to live with but...you _really _wished that we were gone from your life? Replaced by _girls?_" Loni asked with hurt in his voice.

"Why..." Lieff asked.

"That's harsh, sis." Lane added.

"I-I'm sorry okay? It was seven months ago! I was having a rough day when I made the wish, and when I went to sleep that night I just went with it. Then I saw how crappy it would have been to live with ten other girls. No offense ladies!" She quickly added.

"None taken," Luna said waving her hand casually. "I've actually wondered myself what the Loud House would be like if the whole dude to chick ratio was changed up a bit." She commented in a nervous chuckle, Lola sitting on her lap and scanning the room.

"Didn't picture anything like this though..."

"I haven't! Boys are gross, and they have absolutely no class! I mean look at this place!"

At Lola's words, Lori tilted her head and noticed for the first time the state of the room around her. Dirty clothes were strewn all over the floor and furniture, food stains covered the carpet, and her nose caught the unmistakable stench of mold that must have permeated the air a while ago.

Lola had apparently been crying since they brought Lori into the house and placed her on the couch, and no comforting words from anyone in the room were able to pull her out of her distress until Lori had awoken.

"Oh like a little dirt hurt anybody, princess!" The boy in the red hat retorted.

"Lief. Just let it go." Linka said pinching the bridge of her nose, clearly embarrassed at the state of her living space.

Mind numb and still in shock trying to process everything the girl called Linka had just told her, Lori turned to look at Lynn Jr. for confirmation, her gaze miles away and not looking at anyone.

"Lynn...is this true?"

"I...was just trying to keep him safe." She whispered. Tears started to reform in her already puffy eyes and she shouted, "Why the hell did this happen?! One second I was pounding the snot out of that Luna looking dirt-bag, then..and then..."

Unable to hold it in anymore, she wept in her hands at feeling so powerless over the situation. Lynn Sr. wrapped a comforting arm around the shoulder of the girl that looked just like his son and told her, "Hey it's okay kiddo, we'll figure this all out together."

"That actually won't be necessary, father." the boy called Levi spoke up.

"I've already deduced from Linka and the girl's testimony, along with their DNA samples that these girls are _indeed_ from another dimension much like our own. My genderswapped opposite must've created a device capable of interdimensional travel and was attempting to use it until something went wrong. Loki, Luke, Lynn, Lexx, and Leon are in all likelihood with the members of our interdimensional opposites."

His older brothers just stared at him trying to comprehend the implications of that statement.

"Are you 100% sure, Levi?" Lynn Sr. asked getting eye level with him.

"Quite. The proof is in the proverbial pudding." He answered holding up a metallic screen to his father.

"But….but then how did I get knocked out?" Lori asked still confused.

"Dad hitcha in the head with 2x4." Answered Lane. "And _wooden _you know it, here you are!"

"LANE!" most of his brother's shouted.

"What?! You know I make puns when I get nervous."

"You..._literally_ hit me in the head with a 2x4?" she asked looking up at him. She'd been told by the man that he wasn't her dad, but the idea that any version of her father could harm another human being was both foreign and terrifying to her.

Lynn Sr. had been wary of her boyfriend at first but even he had managed to warm up to him.

_Bobby…_

She swallowed at the thought of him and tried to contain her emotions wishing he was here right now.

Rubbing the back of his head and looking down he answered, "Uh yeah, that was my bad. I was building an extension to the garage when I heard all the screaming. I turned around with the thing over my shoulder and I didn't see you coming. Your head landed on the grass though, if that makes you feel any better."

"Not really..." she croaked still in pain and unable to get comfortable.

"So then...if our brothers are in another world right now…when are they getting back?" Loni asked a mask of worry on his face.

"Not _when_, numbskull. _How?" _Lief corrected him.

"Right. How?"

"Yeah little dude, how are we supposed to get home?" Luna asked, worry touching her face as well.

"I-I...I want Lana NOW!" Lola cried.

Adjusting his glasses Levi started to pace the room, concentrating on the dilemma before them.

"Well as you stated elder brother, they're all in another world at this moment. I didn't even suspect that something like this was conceivably possible. Of course, there have been plenty of theories as to the existence and function of the multiverse over the course of the centuries from philosophers to scientists and other walks of life, yet they've never been proven until now. I suppose that given the proper amount of time and equipment I could-"

As Levi was lecturing them all about the complications of building a portal to another dimension, Lynn stood up and walked over to him, hands clenched into fists.

She was done listening. It was time to act. Anger surging through her, she picked Levi up by the lapels of his lab coat and slammed him against the wall, causing him to grunt in pain.

"Lynn what are ya doing?!", panicked Luna.

"Hey, let him go!" Lane shouted putting an arm on Lynn's shoulder. The angry jock simply shrugged him off and tightened her grip, the boys standing three feet from her, unsure of what to do.

"You're gonna build us a machine to get us back home, and you're gonna do it NOW." She demanded, tears streaming down her face.

"Lynn, please stop..." Lori croaked.

"I don't care how long it takes or how you do it, you're gonna fix this and if you don-"

A firm hand clamped down on Lynn Jr.'s shoulder and a stern voice interrupted her next demand.

"Young lady. Put. My son. Down." Lynn Sr. demanded. Usually, he only saved the term 'young lady' for Linka when he was angry with her, but figured that this situation absolutely called for some kind of parental intervention.

All the strength in her body left her at the words 'my son' and Lynn slowly lowered the little scientist to the floor. Every boy in the room looked like they wanted to strangle Lynn, and if they did, Lori couldn't do anything to stop them.

Surprisingly, Levi just brushed off his coat with his gloved hands and adjusted his glasses, looking Lynn Jr. in the eye. "I apologize…" he said slowly, "I have the tendency to ramble when my stress levels are elevated."

"Nah don't trip about it. What Lynn did was not cool, and she will apologize." Luna said, teeth gritted in frustration.

"I'm...I'm sorry…" she told him looking defeated.

"No apology necessary. Believe me Lynn I wish for the safe return of my brothers as much as you wish to return home. In this regard, I'd say we have a common goal and a reason to come together in the search for a resolution to this crisis."

Lynn Sr. smiled at that, thankful for the first time that his son had always put logic over emotions in any given situation. "There, ya see Lynn? Now let's all just...take a deep breath and start brainstorming what we can-"

"No". Unable to keep her emotions at bay any longer Lori summoned all the strength she had and sat up on the couch. "NO. No this is wrong! All of this is wrong!" she shouted. "You're lying! This-this is literally something that comes out of a video game or-or a movie. Stuff like this doesn't just happen in real life, it's _not _possible!"

"Lori, we're not making this up!", Linka exclaimed.

"Why would we lie to you about this?" questioned Loni.

"Yeah, we wouldn't joke about something like our brother's disappearing. And I know jokes and that's _not _funny." Lane added.

She turned to Luna, eyes questioning, praying that she wasn't actually buying into any of this crap.

"I...I don't know what to tell ya sis. I mean they sound legit, and Lisa building something like a portal to other worlds doesn't sound too far fetched. If she ain't blowing the roof off the house then she's usually building something that _could_ blow the roof off the house."

Looking down she felt the bruises on her cheek with her hand, unsure of how to comfort her older sister.

"I can't think of any other reason why this is happening..."

Out of the corner of her eye, the boy called Lief tapped Lars on the shoulder and made a "cuckoo" gesture with his hand, index finger twirling next to his ear. The goth boy elbowed his little brother in the ribs, unamused by his brother's wordless comment.

She quickly pushed herself off the couch and got to her feet, fists clenched. This wasn't happening. She wasn't hearing this, and she wasn't going to be ridiculed for the fear she felt for herself and her siblings. "Then all of you are wrong or...or I'm dreaming and this is all….ugh..."

Lightheadedness over-took her and Luna and Linka scrambled to her sides to keep her from falling. Stars danced in the corner of her vision and the only thing keeping Lori on her feet was the support from the two girls.

"Lori just lay back down, it's gonna be okay!" Linka told her.

"Take it easy, sis, you're gonna hurt yourself!" Luna added.

"No Luna I'm not gonna take it easy! I don't believe you. I don't believe _any_ of you, and I want you to get out of my house and away from my family!"

Her breath came in quick pants and she felt like her heart was to going to burst out of her chest.

Lynn Sr. stepped forward in a calming gesture, "Lori, sweetheart, please you need to understand-"

"No! _You _need to understand; I don't want you here! Where is Lincoln?! Wheres Leni?!"

Her racing thoughts drifted to her mother's image and now more than ever she just wanted Rita to hold her and validate her suspicions. To support her and tell her that she wasn't crazy, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Wheres mom?! Why isn't she here? I want to see her now! I WANT TO SEE MY MOM!" She yelled tears forming in her eyes.

All the men in the living room straightened at that, the breath leaving their throats at what the tear-stricken girl had just asked of them. The room was dead quiet for what felt like an eternity, the only sound coming from Lori's ragged breathing.

"Y-Your mother…" Lynn senior whispered.

"You mean...your mom is still…" Loni asked.

"Oh shit, dude." Lane said.

"Where is she….", Lori whimpered head hanging low.

Eyes straining in thought Luna looked up and noted, "Y'know that's actually bugging me too...where _is _your guy's Rita at? I haven't seen her once since I got here."

The boy's faces all fell at once, unable to look at the girl's in front of them. Lar's breathing started to quicken and Loni put a hand on his brother's shoulder in comfort.

"Well? She can't be at the dentist's office cause that closes at 6:00, soooo what's up guys?"

Lynn Sr. finally met the young rockers eyes. His were filled with tears and his mouth moved silently like he wanted to say something, but then quickly shut it. Out of his stupor, he took a deep breath and turned to his second eldest son.

"Loni. Please, bring your mother down here." The boys all gave him questionable looks, like he'd just asked them to do something insane.

Loni stepped to his dad's shoulder and whispered, "Dad, we can't do that, it'll kill them. We-"

"Just...please do as I ask, son."

Reluctance on his face and his hands clenched at his sides he turned around and marched upstairs to do as his father told him. The girls still didn't understand what was happening, and Lori's legs were growing weaker as every second passed, the support she got from Linka slightly lacking. What was going on? Why did they all look so downtrodden?

Loni's footsteps echoed slowly down the stairs a half minute later, putting his weight into every step of his sagging body. The boy's around him backed away and gave the girl's a clear view of what he was holding. In his trembling hands, he held what appeared to be a square object covered with a white silk cloth.

"What...what is this?" Luna asked hands now shaking as well, unable to look away from the object.

"You obviously need proof that this isn't your dimension….well...here's your proof."

Time seemed to slow as Lynn Sr. pulled the cloth off the top of the square-shaped object to reveal a brown wooden box underneath. It was perfectly smooth filed down wood, and carved on its surface were tiny black letters next to a picture of the Loud House family crest. The box read:

_In loving memory of Rita Loud. _

_Mother of eleven. Wife to one._

_A gift to all._

_June 12th, 1977 - December 4th, 2018 _

Knees giving out beneath her, the tears coming free from her eyes, Lori Loud cried out at the sight in front of her. A series of sobs escaped her throat, hands hovering over the urn that contained her mother's remains. Luna clasped a hand to her mouth trying to keep the tears from falling but was failing miserably.

"Mommy?..." Lola asked stepping towards the box in Loni's hands.

Her literacy skills were questionable, but even she could make out her own mother's name. Lynn Jr. gripped her hands on her scalp swaying back and forth denying what her eyes were telling her. "No. No. No...no…."

The boys were keeping it together better than the girls, but the pain of their mother's death felt as fresh as it had been seven months ago when they had first gotten the news, silent tears trickling down the faces of every boy in the room. Lar's was now bawling and his older brother Loni wrapped his arms around him, chin resting on his little brother's head.

It didn't matter that it wasn't actually Lori's mother that was gone from this world. It didn't matter that the pain she felt didn't rightfully belong to hers, or that every boy in the room looked at her and the girls with teary-eyed confusion. She wept.

Now more than ever, not since she'd been a little girl that would often scrape her leg on the pavement playing tag with her siblings she needed her mother by her side; to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. The very idea that she couldn't be there for her or for any of her other siblings due to a barrier as permanent as death, shattered her heart to pieces.

She gripped the wood and pressed her aching forehead to it, finally coming face to face with a reality she didn't choose to be in: this wasn't a dream. This was not her house. This was not her world. Linka and the boys were telling the truth, and her siblings back in her dimension were probably suffering from the terrifying fallout of her and her sister's disappearance.

An unexpected hand landed gently on Lori's shoulder and she turned to look at the silent tears that streamed down Linka's face. Looking more closely these weren't just the eyes of an eleven-year-old girl. They were dark and tired with heavy bags under them, the result of what must have been too many sleepless nights spent mourning her mother.

"I'm...I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to find out like this-"

Her sentence was cut off as Lori threw her arms around the white-haired girl, and began to weep harder at the realization that this fragile thing in front of her was without a mother and by extension, without a piece of herself.

"Nooo...I'm the one who's sorry…", she choked out.

Eyes closing shut, she returned the hug and began to weep as well, nose pressed into her interdimensional sister's collar.

The other two sisters now bawling, Lynn Sr. quickly wrapped his arms around Lynn and Lola's forms and felt the tears escape his eyes as well. They may not have been his children, but he'd be damned if he was just going to stand on the sidelines and watch as two little girls cried over the form of his deceased wife. If their Rita Loud was anything like his, then their loss must have felt as real as anyone else's in that room.

And they all just knelt there and wept, no one able to come up with anything hopeful or reassuring to say to the Loud sisters. Because there were no words. For a house as loud as there's had always been, only the death of their mother, the death of one of their own, could keep everyone in a gripping, mourning silence.

...

I also do not own the character Thanos. That belongs to Marvel.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Before you jump in, I wanted to ask what you guys think of different POV's (points of view). Some of my beta readers have told me that I jump too frequently from character to character and that that takes them out of the flow of the story. I think they make a good point, but what are your thoughts on that? Also because I want to give you guys the best content possible, it will take me longer to upload future chapters, **_**buuut **_**that does mean they will be longer. Soooo...yay? Thank you so much again for reading, following, faving, and writing your reviews. Funniest one I've read so far was "Wtf" lol. And for the record, YES I do feel sad about killing off Rita Loud, but I do not regret it. (Disclaimer, I don't own the Loud House, Nickelodeon studios do). Enjoy.**

Chapter 6: Reunion

The blaring sound of Lincoln's alarm clock caused his eyes to flutter open, and he groaned tiredly at the realization that he'd only managed to claim two more hours of sleep since waking from his nightmare. Reaching his hand out to the nightstand, he smacked the snooze button and glanced at the clock; it was 6:30 in the morning, just as he had set it.

Two weights pressed against him and he noticed his still sleeping sisters hadn't even stirred from the ruckus the alarm had made. The streaks of dried tear stains still plastered their cheeks. It had been a hard night for them both, but at least they had managed to get more sleep than he did.

Slowly, he pushed himself up and mentally prepared himself for what he had to do that morning.

_Couldn't have just been two nightmares in a row, could it? _He thought, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Careful not to disturb her, Lincoln climbed over Lucy and walked out his bedroom door. He walked into Lori's room and wondered briefly how the lumberyard of snoring hadn't woken up his parents in the middle of the night.

Approaching Lori's bed he shook the blonde's shoulder and said, "Loki, wake up. It's time."

…**..**

Morning sunlight shone through the dining room window, and the smell of freshly made breakfast permeated the air, as the six remaining Loud siblings filed in to start their day. Normally Lincoln would have followed Lucy, Lana, and Lisa to the kiddy table, but this morning, everyone's presence at the grown up's table with their parents was essential.

Suspecting their other children were still sick in their rooms, the Loud parent's made no fuss about it. It was good to see them all so well behaved at a family meal.

"Alright Loud gang fasten your seatbelts, cause Lynn Sr. has got a new pancake recipe for you all to sink your teeth into!", their father declared serving out plates of breakfast to his children.

Now sitting at the main dining room table they grunted in unison at their father's words, too exhausted to fake any enthusiasm in their voices. Evidently, none of them had slept well, the events of the previous day replaying over and over again in their minds.

"Huh...well nobody start jumping up and down all at once." He commented, one eyebrow raised.

Shaking his head and putting on his best smile Lincoln answered, "Sorry dad, it smells delicious. We just didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night."

"You guys look awful! Did you catch the bug going around the house too?" Rita asked sipping a fresh cup of coffee.

"No, we've all just been _worried sick _about our sister's health," Luan commented. Everyone groaned at Luan's terrible pun, some complaining it was way too early for it.

"I mean...we technically are.." she muttered to herself.

"I slept great!" Leni beamed, "Luan says the funniest stuff in her sleep. I laughed like a million times in the night at what I heard her saying."

"...guess you weren't really sleeping then, were you Len?" Lana commented hand supporting her chin and half-awake.

"Yes, I was! I was sleep-laughing at Luan's sleep-talking." Luan's eye twitched at that, though she was grateful that she had had someone bunking with her in her room last night, Leni's constant cracking up at her unconscious habit had woken the young comedian one too many times. Thirteen to be exact.

"Really? I didn't know that was a thing." Lynn Sr. told her. "Sorry, you had to switch rooms for your sister, kiddo."

"How are the girls doing? Did you take their temperatures yet this morning?"

Leni's smile fell from her face, the reality of her sibling's situation coming back to her.

"Um...yeah...yeah they're okay...they're still sleeping..," she answered quietly.

"At this hour? Oh noooo. I'll schedule some doctor's appointments for them then." Rita said pulling out her cellphone to make the call.

The Loud siblings all remained quiet at the table, uncomfortable at their mother's words and unsure of what to say or do next. Lincoln's sister's all glanced at him with worry in their eyes, wondering how far they were going to take this lie. He assured them earlier that he would be the one to break the news to their parents, him being the one who concocted the ruse in the first place, but even Lincoln couldn't pinpoint when the right moment would be. The boys were still waiting on the stairs for Lincoln's cue to enter, with the exception of Leon who was still asleep in Lily's crib.

Just then, it occurred to him that there wasn't ever going to be a right moment. The only solace he could take from any of this was that they wouldn't find out for themselves and react in a way that was less than...civil. It was time to come clean.

Standing out of his chair he walked to his mother and gently pulled her phoned hand away from her ear, pressing the 'end call' button before anyone could answer.

"What is it, honey?" she asked with a concerned look.

"Mom..dad...there's something we have to tell you…"

…..

Loki Loud was never really what you'd call a religious person, (despite being named after a Norse God, which he always thought was kinda badass). He never attended church or temple as per his parent's upbringing, rarely questioned the existence of a God or a higher being having any influence over him, and generally just went through his life believing himself to be the master of his own fate. However, the only way he had ever pictured seeing his mother again was by someday meeting her at the gates of heaven or at the entrance of some form of the after-life, if it did indeed exist.

That's why despite half a day of trying to mentally prepare himself for this encounter, Loki was overcome with raw emotion at the sight of Rita Loud sitting at the dining room table and eating breakfast like she had every morning during all of the seventeen years of his life.

His throat completely closed up, and he fought back tears of both joy and anguish at the sight before him. It was his mother. She was here and she was alive. Every fiber in his being made him just want to run into her arms and be held by her, relish in the feeling of being reunited with the person who had given him life, with the woman that had raised and supported him since birth….but he couldn't.

Of course, he knew that that that wasn't really _his_ mother and to pretend otherwise would have been plain foolish. He knew that. Yet despite the voice in his head telling him all this, it didn't make the pain and love he felt for her any less real. The rest of his brothers were not holding up much better, all staring at the woman before them, mouth agape and unsure of what to do or say. Luke had tears in his eyes, and Lynn's breathing had quickened, a look of awe and heartbreak painted the jock's face.

"Mom...", Lynn whispered.

"Lynn...you know that's not really her...", he told him quietly

The awkward silence was finally broken when Rita broke her stare of the young boy's in her dining room and asked, "Uhhh,...Lincoln what's going o-"

"Mommy!" Lexx suddenly cried.

"No Lexx, don't!" Loki protested hand extended. He cursed himself for not trying to get a better read on what his brothers might do or say once they saw her.

The little prince ran to the woman, tears streaming down his tiny cheeks. He jumped into her lap and wrapped his arms around her torso, causing the coffee she was holding to spill all over her breakfast. Apparently, he had felt the same urge.

"Mommy...you're here. I didn't think it was true, but you're here.." Lexx whimpered.

"Urp...hey there little guy, do I know you?" She asked shifting uncomfortably.

Lexx gazed up at the woman he thought was his mother, tears still streaming down his face and opened his mouth as if to say something. Before he could answer, Rita adjusted the boy on her lap, looked him up and down and squinted at his familiar form.

"...Lola?" She asked incredulously.

"No...I'm Lexx…", He whispered.

"Lincoln...what's going on?"

"Uh…yeah," Lynn Sr. said facing the boys "Why do your sister's look sooo...masculine? I thought they were sick in bed."

Unable to meet his parents confused expression, Lincoln sighed and told them, "...because they're not our sisters and they're not here. Their names are Loki, Luke, Lynn, and Lexx….they're my brothers...and in a way..._your _sons from another dimension."

…...

That was not the reaction Lincoln was expecting from the boys upon meeting his parents. He was sure they feared being stuck here forever as well, but they had to know that wasn't really _their _mother, right? They all looked so….surprised like they were seeing her for the first time. Glancing at Lana, she looked as though she wanted to rip out Lexx's throat for his unexpected display of affection. As a precaution, Lincoln scooted next to her in case she got any ideas.

Every sibling both from his own dimension and beyond held their collective breaths as Lincoln once again explained everything that had brought them to this point. From Lisa's machine malfunctioning to the meeting they held last night to discuss how they would bring the subject to their parent's attention.

Except for the role he played in the portal becoming unstable he spared no detail in walking them through what happened, speaking both slowly yet calmly. When he was finished talking his parents just stared at them all wide-eyed not making a sound or giving any indication that they'd actually heard him. Both adults turned their heads to Lisa, who was looking down at her breakfast and nervously prodding her food.

Trying to get Lisa in on a prank was like trying to get Lori to put down her phone for five minutes, as she usually considered practical jokes and pranks a waste of her time and energy. Even Luan, the master prankster, held her head in her hands, looking guilty as sin.

"I'm afraid it's true, parental units. My negligence and overconfidence got the better of me, and now we are paying the price for it."

"But we have a plan!" Lincoln quickly added, "Lisa's going to pull some strings with the scientific board people or whoever to get us more fuel. She'll reopen the portal and we'll go in and get our sister's back!"

The sound of Lynn Sr.'s hysterical laughter suddenly carried through the room and everyone felt their hearts shrink at the man's undisturbed reaction.

"Okay! I get it!", he told them clutching his stomach, "this is all just a big prank by Luan, isn't it?" Luan and Lincoln's mouth dropped at that. This was not going in the direction any of them were thinking it would.

"What? No dad-"

"Gotta say this was different. I'm impressed you went the whole psychological route with this one instead of just more pies to the face, Luan." her father told her.

"Where did you get the money to hire these guys? Are they from the same stunt double company we hired last year?" Rita asked gesturing to the boys, an astonished grin on her face.

"No no guys, this isn't a prank, I wouldn't joke about something like this!" Luan frantically told them.

"I-I know how insane it sounds, dad, but every word of it is the truth, we just had to tell you at the right time. Tell him guys." Lincoln said gesturing to the male Louds.

Hesitantly Loki stepped forward, shifting uncomfortably, and trying to meet his father's gaze. "I-it's true, dad. We got sent here by mistake and now we're trying to get home. Your daughters are back in our dimension." Loki told him.

"We swear…" Luke said in almost a whisper.

_Huh...well at least they're dedicated to their roles, _Lynn thought.

"Yeaahhh… not buying it guys." Lynn Sr. told them. "Though I gotta say the make-up is spot on. You look just like our-"

"WHY WOULD WE LIE TO YOU ABOUT THIS?!" Lynn suddenly shouted.

The Loud parent's reeled back in their seats at the young man's outburst, surprised by this actor's attempts to convince them what was happening was real.

"We're literally worlds away from our home and our family", he continued, "and we didn't tell you yesterday cause _Stinka_ here said you both would flip out at what happened! They tied me up for Christ's sake just so I wouldn't come down here and see you!"

Lynn's breathing was heavy and his hands shook with an anger he hadn't felt in months "...and now that we're coming clean you're treating it like it's some kind of stupid joke?!"

"Seriously?" Luke whispered, now outraged as well.

Lynn Sr. frowned at that and then stood up in his chair, arms crossed and eyed the boys skeptically. This was getting too weird for him and it was time to put an end to it the best way he knew how.

"Hmm….okay _Loki," _he said drawing out the name and approaching him. "I'll play along. If you're our son from 'another dimension', it's fair to assume that you'd have our daughters memories right? Different bodies, but same experiences?"

Lisa looked up at that.

"Uh father, I don't think that's necessarily true-"

"Hold the phone, Lisa, and let him answer the question."

"Dear, it's obviously a gag, you don't have to-"

"Ehtatatata" He told Rita holding up his hand to her. "Just let me handle this. Well?"

He asked again.

"I...I guess?" Loki answered unsure of himself. He actually hadn't given his genderswapped self much thought since he got there.

"Okay then, tell me; what happened when Rita and I brought all of our kids with us to the resort we saved up for last fall?"

It didn't take long for him to sift through his memories and find the answer, "We-we got kicked out because we trashed the place. I broke off the hotel's antenna trying to get back inside. Loni-er Leni...both thought they worked there cause they put on some guy named Fritz's name tag."

Lynn. Sr. raised his eyebrows, surprised at the specificity of the answer. In truth, that wasn't why they got kicked out from the resort but as far as his kids knew that was how it happened. "I see...okay then." He turned to look at the young rocker now mirroring his annoyed posture.

"'Luke', right? What was Luna's first concert ever and what made her fall in love with rock n' roll?"

Groaning and throwing his arms up he told him, "It was Mick Swagger, dude. His music changed my life. She...er, I guess _we _used to rock to classical, but that noise got old so we took up guitar...and drums...and bass...and keyboard...and-"

"Uh, right. Too easy. Lynn; how old was our daughter when she dislocated her shoulder rock climbing?"

"Trick question. I didn't dislocate anything, old man, I fractured my tibia falling off a _rock wall_. And I was ten." he told him, not bothering to refer to the girl or even trying to hide the aggression in his voice.

"What kind of fracture was it?" he followed up.

"Compound," he answered through gritted teeth.

This gave Lynn pause. He'd thought for sure he'd get them with that one but every detail of this actor's answer was correct. His kid's had been very thorough.

"Little boy"….He said looking at Lexx.."what did our daughter do to make us lose the Royal Woods book reading competition and why?"

Looking up from his spot on Rita's lap he told him, "I-I lied about reading the book I said I'd read, cause it was too hard and I didn't want us to miss out on free pizza at Gus' Games N' Grub. But it's okay! Cause I learned how to cook pizza for everyone-"

"Okayokay...one more question…" he said getting desperate. He had to come up with something recent, something that his kids might have forgotten to mention when giving these actor's their lines. A smirk formed on his face as he found the perfect question.

"Alright, boys...on the opening day of my new restaurant, all of my kids came up with some crazy way to promote it to the public, but it got out of hand and we almost had to close the restaurant on its first day because there were so many customers. What did each of you do to try and help promote it?"

They all blanched at that; their father didn't own a restaurant. He was a damned good cook, but he'd worked in an office building for the last twenty years of life. A few seconds went by, none of the boys able to answer his question due to having no way of knowing about _this_ Lynn's business.

"Uh...we don't know what restaurant you're talking about…."

"Ah-Hah! I thought so!" Lynn stated in triumph.

This was becoming tedious and no matter how bad her parent's denial was, Lana couldn't listen to this anymore. Her twin sister was missing and no one was doing anything about it.

"Oh, this is such bullcrap!" Lana shouted, fists slamming the table.

"Lana, watch your language!" Rita told her.

"Or what, mom?!" She challenged her standing up, and tears forming in her eyes. "You're gonna ground us? You're gonna take away our allowances, and make us skip dessert? Cause none of that means jack when you know that your sisters are missing and lost and maybe gone forever!"

Carefully lifting the child out of her lap, Rita gently set Lexx down and stood up, hands on her hips.

"Alright, I've had enough of this. This has gone too far."

"Mom, you gotta believe us!" Leni pleaded.

"I don't want to hear it anymore Leni."

"Then-" Lincoln tried to say.

"Me neither. Your mother's right; you guys are really beating a dead horse here, and it's just no longer funny."

"Now get your sister's down here this instant."

"Then just-"

"They're not coming downstairs, because they're not here, damnit!." Lucy shouted.

"Lucile Tabatha Loud, I am _this _close to washing all of your mouths out with soa-"

"THEN CHECK LILY'S DIAPER!" The middle child bellowed to get his parents attention.

His mother slowly turned to face her only son, hands unclenching at her side.

"...Lily's diaper? Why, is it dirty?"

Lincoln's heart rate was through the roof, a mix of fear and exhaustion, and he just couldn't do this anymore. He knew they wouldn't react well to this, but no force on earth or mental pep-talk could have prepared him for this kind of reaction.

It had to stop, and if it meant he had to show his mother the one thing that scared her the most, then so be it. Hand covering his face and tears seeping through his fingers he told her, "If you are so positive that everything that we've told you is a lie...go upstairs..walk into Lisa's room...go see what's left of her machine...check the diaper Lily is wearing...and tell us what you find."

Rita got down on her knees and put her hands on her son's shoulders, genuine concern finally touching her features. .

"Lincoln...sweety, you're scaring me..."

"Please, mom...please...", he whispered.

….

No one ever likes hearing their mother cry, interdimensional or otherwise; it tugs at the heartstrings and almost always gives one a sense of helplessness. It's when you know the one person who you always went to for comfort now needs some of their own and you may or may not be the best person to provide it. It's even worse knowing you're the reason your mother started crying in the first place. These thoughts bounced around the Loud children's mind like a broken tilt-a-whirl as they all now sat in their destroyed living room and listened to the unmistakable sobs of Rita Loud in her bedroom.

Lynn Sr. had followed her in there ten minutes ago after her meltdown in the dining room, when she demanded to know where her real daughter was and who the boys in her house were after seeing Lisa's room. Nothing had managed to convince her of her children's validity until her youngest (or who appeared to be her youngest) looked up at her with the same innocence only an infant could display and called her "momma". It was at that moment that she knew her children were telling the truth, and the child she thought was Lily was indeed replaced by a male imposter. Her and four of her other daughters. The fact that it had all been a terrible mistake did nothing to console her, and the promise that they would get her real children home fell on deaf ears.

Lincoln now sat on the torn up and barely standing sofa, crying his eyes out, Luan on his left, and Leni on his right, Lana sitting in Leni's lap, in tears as well. Lucy was standing with Lisa saying nothing and waiting for the worse. The boys, as usual, stood off to the side of the room, feeling completely out of place in what looked, but didn't feel like their own home.

"...how long is she gonna be like this?" Lynn asked to himself.

Loki lifted his head and gazed at his brother, appalled.

"As long as she needs to! Jesus Lynn, she just got told her daughters are gone!"

"I know that dipshit, I'm just wondering when we're gonna get a chance to talk to her."

"Why would she want to talk to us…" Luke sighed, looking down.

"...why would she want to talk with-? Dude! Why wouldn't _you _wanna talk to _her_?!" He demanded.

"Lynn..."

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity bro, and you're not even-"

"This isn't the time, Lynn!" Loki shouted.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lincoln asked, looking up at them.

"Nothing," Loki said, glaring at his brother.

"Yeah...nothing," Lynn confirmed, not quite sure why they were hiding this.

Pressing his face back into his hands he let the tears flow. Lincoln's plan to tell his parents on his own terms had come to fruition, but at what cost? Their trust? Their happiness?...Their Love?

Luan hated seeing any of her siblings cry, especially now since she knew Lincoln had done all of this with the best intentions.

"It's gonna be okay Linc," she told him putting a hand on his shoulder. "just give her some time, and she'll come out of it eventually."

"By my estimation, there is at least a 57.6% chance that her emotional state will-"

"Not helping, Lis." Luan snapped at her.

"..right...my apologies."

The sound of the door slamming against the wall caught the attention of every low-hanging head in the room. Lynn Sr. burst from his bedroom and stomped his way into the living room.

"Dad we-"

"Don't." He warned them holding up a finger, "Just don't say anything to me right now." He took a deep breath clenching and unclenching his fists, biting his lower lip to choke off the scream he felt building in his room was quiet for another two minutes before anyone spoke, all expecting Lynn Sr. to really throw the book at them in the Loudest manner possible. Instead, his voice remained level when he explained

"It's one thing that you accidentally got your sister's sent away to...wherever they got sent. But it is a whole nother can of worms for all of you to lie to us about it and then try to hide it like it didn't actually happen."

Luan looked up at her father and said,

"Dad, we _know_ it actually happened, we just had to pick the right time to tell you so that you wouldn't go ballistic."

"...kinda like they are now?" Lucy said under her breath.

She looked back down at that and said nothing further.

"I want you all to listen to me _very_ carefully, guys;", he told them, "there is never and I do mean _never _a reason to keep a parent in the dark about their children going missing. _No way_ to soften the blow and _no way_ to rationalize lying about it. I hope you realize that you've just made things a million times worse for yourselve-"

"Yeah, say that again with a bloody shotgun pointed at our heads and tell us we made it worse." Luke challenged.

"Luke, shut up," Loki told him. What the hell was he doing?

Lynn senior approached the young man scowling at the tone in his voice.

"Come again?" he asked, arms crossed.

"They didn't tell you til' now cause they were afraid you'd think we were intruders or something and unload on us," Luke explained.

"_Unload_?" Lynn asked squinting his eyes in confusion,

"Yeah. Unload as in *click-click-boom.*" he told him hands miming a rifle.

"When they first got here we were all at each other's throats, cause we didn't know what was happening or where these guys were from. We thought that you'd probably do the same thing." Luan added.

"...but that's not-"

"Do you really think Lincoln would be dumb enough to practice fencing without his mask on?" Lucy asked.

Lynn Sr. turned to look at his still sobbing son. One of those guys had given him the black eye? His _only _son? He sat down next to him between Lincoln and Luan getting his attention by tapping him on the shoulder.

"_They_ did that to you?" he asked gesturing towards the boys.

Revealing his face once again he told him, "No...Luke did, but he didn't know who I was. He was just freaked out. We all were. I was just trying to keep everyone safe."

_Ahhh damnit..._Lynn thought, putting an arm over his son's shoulder. It was no secret that Lynn Sr. kept a firearm downstairs locked in his bedroom for home protection, a measure he'd taken after a series of burglaries swept the neighborhood. As much as he wished he could say that he wouldn't have done something drastic had he met the boys under more extreme circumstances, he knew deep down that the gun probably would have been the first thing he went for, especially if they _had _just shown up in the house spontaneously. His son really had been just trying to keep them all safe.

"Lincoln…"

"... do you hate me?" he suddenly asked, the fear obvious in his voice.

Lynn's heart fell at that and he rubbed his son's shoulder in comfort.

"No. Of course not. I hate what you did, I don't hate you. Any of you." He said looking around at his children. Though he meant it, that didn't change the fact that he was furious and terrified about the entire situation. Missing daughters was _not_ something he was prepared to deal with this morning. And what could he possibly do to remedy any of it? File a missing person's report?

Taking another breath he searched for the right words to address his second youngest.

"...you said you had a plan to get them back?"

"Affirmative."

"Okay...how long do you think it will take?"

"Including today, approximately four days."

_Four days...oh boy._

Yes, he may have been angry, but it was time to claim some control over the situation.

"So...this is usually the part where I come up with some kind of punishment for your reckless behavior, but I think we all know that that won't change a _damned_ thing," he told them all.

"_Sooo, _none of you are grounded." He said standing up. They all perked up at that, surprised by their father's words. "You will, however, do absolutely everything you can, every waking moment of the next four days to assist Lisa in whatever she needs to rebuild her machine and get my daughters home. Consider whatever summer plans you had lined up: canceled."

"Understandable," Lisa told him. "I've already spoken to the board this morning regarding my grant proposal and can expect a positive answer as early as next Monday. Some assistance in cleaning up the remains of my machine would be welcome." Lynn nodded at his daughter, acknowledging her plan.

"And I trust you all (despite my better judgment) to keep everything about your sister's disappearance a secret. One of their friends calls or tries to come over, you tell them they've been grounded until further notice. No exceptions." The irony was not lost on him or any of his children (except maybe for Leni), but the last thing they needed was for all of their friends to start poking around and ask why the family with one boy and ten girls was now the family with six boys and five girls.

"What about us?" Lynn Jr. asked, stepping forward.

Approaching the boys, he looked them up and down, gathering his thoughts on the matter. The resemblance to his girls was uncanny, but it just felt so...unnatural. Like someone had taken a perfectly good painting and doodled all over it with a magic marker. What he wanted to do with them was very different from what he knew he had to do."As far as I'm concerned, outside this house, you don't exist. So that's where you'll be spending the majority of your time." he explained. "You will eat, sleep, and live under my roof and _also _provide Lisa with any help that she may need until we have found a way to get you back home. _That _will be how you earn your keep. I'll help however I can as well." He told them.

Fearing the worst Loki dropped his guard at Lynn Sr.'s words and smiled for the first time that day. "Thank you so much, this literally means the world to us!"

Approaching the man who looked like his father Lynn Jr. asked,

"...dad, do you think we can maybe see mom later or-"

"No. She's nowhere close to being ready to look at any of you right now. Especially you guys. I expect you to leave her be until she is, and as long as you are here, you will address my wife and me as either Lynn Sr. and Rita, or Mr. and Mrs. Loud."

"What...?" Loki asked horrified. His bothers shared the same shocked expression. The girls as well were appalled at their father's words.

Leni hadn't just heard that, had she?

"Dad, that's mean, you can't-"

"None of this permanent." he told them, ignoring Leni's words, "Despite how you may feel, we are not your parents, and you are not our children. It's as simple as that. Do you understand?"

"Wh...what the hell is wrong with you-"

"Do. You. Understand?" He asked Loki coldly, clipping each word. Loki was inches away from Lynn's face and could feel the anger radiating off of him.

Shutting his mouth and biting back the most profane insult he could think of, Loki's lip turned into a straight line and he nodded.

"Yes, _Mr. Loud." _He told him slowly, hands clenched into fists.

"Good." He said, dismissing them and turning back to walk back to his bedroom

Lincoln was shocked at Lynn Sr.'s demands. He knew that he had every right to be angry, but "cruel" was never a word he associated his father with. Would it really be _that_ inappropriate if the boys just called them "mom" and "dad"? _He_ would certainly want to if he were in their shoes.

Lincoln hopped off the couch and tugged his father's arm, interrupting his exit.

"Dad...what about Leon..what about Lexx? They're just kids." They were _all _just kids and right now they needed someone, preferably an adult, to be there for them. How could he be like this?

This gave Lynn pause and he turned to see the little boy that looked like Lola, completely shut down with his head in his lap. A pang of guilt struck at the sight of him, but he reminded himself once again that they were _not_ his children, no matter how similar in appearance. And they were also partly responsible for breaking his wife's heart. "We will discuss this matter later. I'm running late, and I have to open up '_Lynn's Diner_' with Kotaro. I still need to keep the house afloat. Leni.."

The second eldest looked up at her father.

"...can I trust you to help look after…._Leon _and Lexx...and your mother while she is indisposed?"

"...fine." She told him, disgust in her voice at the cruelty of his demands.

Without another word, he gathered his car keys and wallet and made his exit out the front door to vanzilla. The children just sat or stood there processing what just occurred. Slowly Lisa turned to walk to her room and announced,

"Well...in regards to our father's orders...I could use some assistance putting my lab back together. If any of you are interested, you know where I'll be."

Coming out of his shock, Loki straightened and walked up the steps behind her.

"I'll help. You guys coming?"

Luke and Lynn looked like they just wanted to punch something, but instead they unclenched their fists and followed their brother. Everyone else joined soon after, but when Lincoln and Lexx tried to walk up the staircase, they were stopped by Leni's gentle touch.

"Lexx, sweety...why don't you just wait in my room while the big kids do all the heavy lifting? Wouldn't wanna get your fab outfit all sweaty and stinky now would we? It's okay if you sit this one out too, Linky. We got this."

They both looked like they wanted to protest, but some time alone they both realized would do them some good. With that, Leni guided the little prince back to her room and Lincoln turned right back to his, and collapsed onto his bed face first, clutching Bun-bun to his chest.

...

Okay I know I said chapter 5 would be the heaviest in the story and for the most part it kinda is, but the parents still had to figure out half their daughters were gone. I can assure you however that stuffs gets funnier in the next one as Loki and Leni spend some time together. (...no not like that)


	7. Chapter 7

**A:N so this chapter was paticularly hard to write for a couple of reasons: 1. Because I wrote strictly from Loki's pov and 2. because trying to gauge Leni's intelligence can be hard to determine. I want to make her ditzy like she is in the original show, but smart enough to suprise a few people. This story is also getting harder for me as I'm now writing for at least 20 different characters yet trying to tell 2 stories, one from each dimension. But enough griping! Hope you enjoy and please please please please PLEASE any critique or even some ideas is welcome. ( I don't own the Loud House. It is owned by Nickelodeon studios. Please support the official release.)**

Chapter 7: Loki and Leni

"_Come on!"_

"_No."_

"_Just try it on for five minutes!"_

"_Not happening."_

"_Pleeeeassse? For me."_

"_You're not helping yourself there," Loki told his brother Loni while laying on his bed and browsing Facebook on his phone. His cosplay-loving little brother was once again coercing him into trying on one of his ridiculous outfits because he claimed he needed a model for 'better perspective'._

"_Why not ask Linka? She usually cosplays for you."_

"_Dude, it's three times her size, and it's a boy's mage outfit!" he explained._

"_Okay, then why don't you just put it on yourself and look in the mirror?"_

"_No way dude! I have a color bias so I like can't be sure it'll look good on me!'_

Looking up at him he asked "_...a color bias? Jesus, Loni, sometimes I think you really are a girl." __He told him standing up and headed out his bedroom door._

"_I'll do your laundry for a whole month!"_

_At his brother's words, he stopped in his tracks and turned to face him, his interest blooming at the prospect._

"_Two months." he counter-offered._

"_A month and a half!"_

"_A month and three weeks."_

"_Two months and one week."_

"_Wait...Loni, you're going backward. Its-"_

"_Two months and two weeks!"_

_Smirking at his brother's confusion with how deals were made, he extended his hand and sucked in his teeth. "Gotta say, man, you drive a hard bargain, but I am in."_

"_Really?" he asked grinning and shaking it._

"_Sure." He said turning around. "Anything for you, pal." _

"_Wait, where are you going?"_

"_Gotta take a leak."_

"_Okay, but hurry back!"_

_Undoing his pants and doing his business, the phone vibrated on the sink and pinged with the notification that he just got another text. Hands now dry and clean, he picked up his phone to check. It was from his girlfriend._

Bebe: hey Loki, wat r u doing rite now?

Loki: Hey boo-boo bunny. not much, just hangin with loni. U?

Bebe: I think we might have a problem.

_He straightened at this and changed the quality of his grammar before he sent a follow up. _

Loki: What's up, babe?

_An unsettling amount of time passed until he got his reply._

Bebe: I haven't gotten my period in 5 weeks.

_Staring at the message on his phone, Loki's hands started to shake, causing him to drop it to the tiles on the floor. He quickly picked it up and looked over the text again to make sure it wasn't a typo. He even adjusted the brightness on the screen. It wasn't. The implications of the text were clear, and it made his heart drop into his stomach._

No...no we've always been careful, I'm sure of it. _He thought to himself._

_Stepping out of his bathroom he started to type his response to his girlfriend, thumbs flying from one key to the next._

Loki: Okay, don't move. I'll be right there

_Before he could hit the send button a wave of heat flashed over him. Clutching his head, his entire body started to heat up like he had just been placed in a microwave and his ears were ringing furiously. It was as if every nerve ending in his body was screaming and he had no idea why. A silent scream escaped his lips as his vision became blurry. Seconds later he was outside the bathroom and on his stomach, his phone still clutched in his hand, wisps if smoke coming off the end._

…_.._

Once he'd finally found some time to reflect upon his situation, his girlfriend's text had never left Loki's mind the previous night. Next, to the death of his own mother, this was, he figured, the second worst possible thing that could happen to him. Okay...third worse thing, given the fact that he was now trapped in another dimension. But Bebe, _really_ pregnant? No, it had to be some kind of mistake. Perhaps she'd gotten her period, but was to busy with her summer job to actually notice. _That's a thing that happens, right?_ He wondered. Lisa might know something about that, he figured. Maybe he could approach her with the subject later if the timing was right. Even as he walked out of the little girls room the plausibility of it all scratched at his mind endlessly.

Loki, his brothers and the girl's had just finished cleaning up the mess of Lisa's destroyed laboratory, while Lincoln and his brother Lexx had isolated themselves to their own quarters. It was a surreal feeling, looking down at the remains of the machine responsible for all of this madness, but true to his word, he helped pick up and toss out any all debris caused by its malfunction. Niether parties said anything to each other throughout the whole process. Lynn hadn't even once turned the task at hand into a game of shooting junk into the garbage cans as if they were basketballs into hoops.

Satisfied and grateful for the help, Lisa began drawing up the blueprints to rebuild her machine and dismissed them all to do...do what exactly? Just wait for her to rebuild the portal and find a way back? Was that really all there was to it? Unsure of the answer, and without any further requests from the little scientist, he walked back into Lori's room with his other brothers in tow, none of them knowing where exactly they belonged. Lexx didn't look up from his spot on Leni's bed as he numbly ate a plate of pancakes that Leni had brought him earlier.

Now staring at his phone that refused to turn on regardless of how much he wished it would so, Loki sat on his genderswapped self's bed, completely drained from all the moving and cleaning that they'd done over the last two hours. That along with the confrontation they'd had with the alternate Lynn Sr. made him want to just sink back into bed. The word 'alternate' was an understatement; none of them had expected to see a version of their father without the mustache he'd always been so proud of for finally managing to grow out (despite their mothers frequent protest). Yet what had really caught them all off guard was his animosity towards them all. Loki had had a feeling that Lynn Sr. would become angry at being lied to, but ordering them all to stay away from Rita...and then demanding him and his brother's address them like they would their parents friends ? That hurt.

Obviously, he understood that that wasn't his real father, but the man didn't have to be so hard on them. Especially to Lexx and Lynn, who Loki felt for the most, after they were denied the opportunity to see their mother again. That pain was something he carried as well. However, when he really thought about it, Loki decided it was probably for the best; trying to get close to Rita would just make saying goodbye again all the more painful when they left, and he wouldn't put himself or his brothers through that. And that was assuming she'd even want to talk with them, which given her reaction that morning, he doubted. It made Loki's heart ache doubly when he instructed them to keep the fact that the Rita in their dimension was dead, under wraps, in order to avoid any more foreseeable problems.

"...but he might let us see her if we tell him straight up!" Lynn once again protested.

"_Or_ he might snap and kick us out of here completely."

"Damn...you really think he'd do that?" Luke asked.

"I can't be sure at this point, but it's not something I wanna risk. We're already on thin ice as it is. I think we need to just ride this out, lay low, and avoid pissing off...pissing _him_ off at all costs." Loki told them, unable to say his father's name. God, it felt wrong to even think of calling him "_Mr. Loud"_. "So let's just stay away from her as much as possible."

"But Loki-"

"I know you miss her, Lexx. I miss her too." He said cupping his hands around his brother's face. "But that's not our mom. Where did dad say she went again?"

New tears started to form in the little prince's eyes at the memory. It was of the conversation he'd had with his father after his mother's funeral.

"Come on, what did he say?" Loki gently prompted.

"...that...she's in heaven with Pop-Pop…"

"That's right, little man." He said getting eye level with Lexx. "She's there and she's happy, and she's waiting for us when it's our time to go. You're gonna see her again, it'll just be...farther off in the future". It wasn't necessarily what Loki believed, as he considered himself mostly to be an agnostic, but it was how his father had explained the concept of death to Lexx after the news had hit him. Who was he to tell him otherwise?

"Please do this for me."

The six-year-old wiped his eyes, took a tired breath but nodded.

"O...okay."

Turning his head, he looked at his brothers across the room for confirmation.

"Whatever, dude," Luke told him, unwilling to put up a fight.

Hands shaking violently Lynn pored all of his frustration into his fists and barraged the plaster wa until it started to crack and his knuckles became red with pain. "Fine". He spat once he was finished.

"Thank you. Just four more days guys and this will all be a bad dream." Four more days of waiting see if his girlfriend really was carrying his baby. Four more days of just trying to help and coexist with these people. He was scared, he was hurt, but now more than ever he had to be strong for his siblings. It's exactly what his mother would have wanted.

Slowly the bedroom door creaked open and they were greeted to Leni's uncertain face. "Loki...can I like to talk with you for a minute?"

Surprised, but receiving no protest from his brothers, he stepped out into the hallway to discuss whatever was on her mind. He really hoped she hadn't heard everything they'd just discussed. "Sure, what's up?"

"Ok, so I couldn't help but notice that you guys only have the clothes you wore from yesterday, and I started thinking, 'that's totes gonna get really stinky' as time goes by." She explained rocking on her heels "Soooo I was wondering if you wanted to come to the mall with me and pick out some fresh clothes?" she offered with a beaming smile.

"Uh...Leni I'm not sure that's gonna fly with your dad. He made it pretty clear that he doesn't want us leaving the house."

"Oh forget about all that! What dad doesn't know, won't hurt him."

"Yeah, we tried following that logic, and look where that got us."

Placing her hands on her hips she told him, "Come on. It'll only take like a half hour and I just need your brother's sizes. You can't tell me that'd you rather spend three days smelling like a barn than spending your time in the hottest outfits of the season."

He grabbed a piece of his tank-top and sniffed the fabric. It was definitely not fresh anymore, and even he couldn't deny that. "Well...no but-"

"Great! Then let's go! My uber's waiting outside!"

"Wait, when did you-woah!"

She grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him through the hall and down the stairs before he could tell his brother's where he was going, and met the waiting Honda Prius sitting in front of the house to bring them to their destination. He just knew he was going to get crap for this later.

...

As far as malls go, the Royal Woods shopping center was not the biggest in the world. The marble and concrete structure featured two stories of mostly clothes stores, fast food restaurants, and the additional arcade and comic shop. It attracted all walks of life, from the selfie-taking youth of his own generation to the slow and meandering elders of the previous two. Today, it was fairly crowded, it being summer vacation for most students this time of year. Nothing immediate stuck out to him in terms of differences between this one and his own mall, as he was more concerned with the possibility of running into someone who might mistake him for Lori.

Neither Loki nor Leni had spoken a word to each other on the car ride over. Awkwardness and anxiety swelled through the pair, in part because of their embarrassing introduction. That had to go down in the history books as the worst possible way to mistake someone for someone else, Loki figured. After walking the first two hundred feet into the complex, they felt the tension of their situation boil to the rim, and both turned to address the other at what had been eating them the whole time.

Explaining themselves proved even more awkward as they scrambled over one another's sentences. They're follwing exchanged was spoken in unison word for word.

"Hey, I just wanted to say-"

"Oh sorry go ahead."

"No, you go first."

"Seriously, cut it out!

"Will you just let me apologize already?!"

Loki was taken aback. "_You_ apologize?"

"Yeah, I uh...I just wanted to say I'm sorry for slapping you the other day. Leni explained, rubbing her hands together. "That must've hurt."

"N-no it's fine! I'm the one who should be saying sorry! I thought you were my brother dressed up in a costume or something...that's why I…" he felt his face turn red, unable to finish his own apology.

"Grabbed my girls?" she finished for him, one eyebrow raised.

"...yeah…that..." he admitted, feeling sick to his stomach.

She shook her head and assured him, "It's totes okay! You didn't know, and I just thought you were a creeper or something."

"Well I-I'm not. A creeper, I mean. I'm _literally_ not a creeper." He stammered trying to hide his awkwardness. "Sooo...we're cool?"

"I mean I don't know about you, but I'm sweating like crazy. This summer heat is terrible for my pores!"

"Nonono, I mean, do you forgive me?"

Smiling, she extended her hand and nodded her head.

"Already forgiven."

"Phew…"

That was way more than a relief. He couldn't imagine anyone in a situation like theirs that would be so quick to put it in the past, but Leni was apparently the exception.

Shaking hands they then continued on to their destination, the tension in the air dissipating.

"So I like totes gotta ask, what's the boy version of me like?!" she asked suddenly.

_Wow, she really has forgotten all about it._

"Well, Loni's-"

"His name's Loni?! That's so cute! And it sounds just like my name!"

"Umm yeah...I kinda noticed that with some our sibs."

"What's he like to do? What are his hobbies? What's his favorite color? Is it Turquoise too? Spare no details!"

The face of his brother coming to mind made him chuckle, and for a few seconds before Loki answered, he got lost in thought about all the fun times they had together. He really hoped they weren't the last. "He likes cosplay. I mean _really _likes cosplay. We needed to install a second closet just so he could fit all of his outfits in his room. Wouldn't get rid of any of them. Took us two years to convince him that he could just sell them online to people and make custom outfits."

"He sounds like a genius!" she told him. "I have friends who cosplay! I never really got into it, but I know Linky likes to do it for his comic meetup places."

"Linky...? Oh! You mean Lincoln."

"Yeah! He's the greatest, isn't he? Always looking after people."

"Yeah he...he seems like a pretty cool dude," he told her. Loki was actually kinda impressed at the way he had maintained order in the confusion with who everyone was. It did hurt him a little to see the boy that looked just like his sister cry to his father after everything that he'd told him. They hadn't spoken much in the short time they'd known each other, but Loki was curious as to what they had done together in that dream he had mentioned. As familiar as he looked, he had no recollection at all of meeting Lincoln in the past.

"So what do you like to do?" he asked changing the subject.

"You're looking at the greatest up and coming fashion designer Royal Woods has to offer!" she told him, hooking a thumb at herself.

"Huh...fashion designer. I guess that makes sense."

As they proceeded to the fashion department, Leni hit Loki with question after question about what Royal Woods was like in his home dimension and what all of his other sibling's qualities and personalities were. Her energy and the pep in her step was astonishing, even more prominent than his brother Loni's, and it made him feel both at ease and confused. She _did_ realize that her sisters were missing, right? Or was she just as good at hiding her own dismay about all of this as he was? She was about to ask who Lincoln's alternate version was when they finally arrived at their destination.

"Oop! We just passed it!" she told him reaching for the handle to the door.

Suddenly remembering the manners instilled by his mother, he sidestepped Leni and pulled the door open for her. "Uh-no, lemme!"

"What a gentleman!" She said walking inside. "I always have to remind Linky to do that."

The interior consisted mostly of whites and pinks covering everybwall and floor, the latest pop music playing in the background as most stores usually did. Walking thirty more feet into the store she led him to the men's department and scanned all the clothes displayed in front of them, preferring to go through the ones that caught her eye first.

"Now let's see, what would look good on your brothers...oh what about this for Luke?" She asked, holding up a red plaid button-up.

"Eh..looks okay…"

"Yeahhh, I think you're right. Too drab."

"What? No, I didn't say-"

"How about this shirt for Lynn? The color totes goes with his eyes."

"..._III _don't see why not-"

"No that's wrong too. He doesn't really scream 'V-Neck' to me.."

"Leni it's fine, we can just grab whatev-"

Gasping and picking up a pair of khakis she declared,

"Lexx would look so adorable in these shorts!"

For a second he felt like he was back home with his girlfriend Bebe, shopping for the right tuxedo to wear to prom. They hadn't even been there for five minutes and she was already fussing over what they should wear. Did they really have time for this?

"...sure. Why not?" He asked, slightly annoyed.

"Yay! Then maybe we can look for some...hang on", she said eyes picking up at his body language…"I don't think you're taking this seriously!"

"You're right. I'm not." He said without shame. "Beyond what feels comfy, I am 100% uninterested in fashion. Like _not at all_."

"Oh come on! Work with me here! You guys wanna look fab, don't you?"

"I mean...I'd rather just grab some clothes that fit, and leave."

"Anyone can just 'grab clothes that fit and leave'!" She told him using air quotations, "Fashion is an art. Your outfit says so much about you!"

_God help me, you sound just like him. _Loki thought, eye twitching.

Body sagging and looking at him with puppy dog eyes she quietly asked "...please give it some thought?"

"Ugh...alright." he conceded rubbing the back of his head. She was the one who offered to do this, after all, so he might as well humor her. "Uhh...for Luke, he usually dresses in clothes that are purple or grungy looking. Lynn almost always wears jersey's and sports stuff, and Lexx…" he trailed off thinking carefully "anything that makes him feel like he's a king. Leon's still a baby so he can just wear a onesie." _Assuming he doesn't strip it off in the first five minutes._

"THANK-you." She said, bowing slightly, At that she swiftly started to gather clothes she thought would look best on each of the boys, and dropped them in Loki's arms while she hummed happily to herself. Once they grabbed a hand basket to dump it all in, she approached him, one hand on her chin.

"Now, what to drop you into….any preferences?"

In truth he really didn't care what he was going to wear, he was just grateful Leni had brought him here so he could get the clothes. However, considering her previous rant, Loki did imagine what clothing item might really say a lot about his personality.

"Well...I've always thought Denim looked kinda cool..."

"Oh M gosh! You would look _great _in Denim! I know just the thing." she declared grabbing his arm and dragging him to another section of the store.

Nearly a half hour later of debating and assuring her that any denim he wore was perfectly acceptable, and literally dragging her away from a shoe sale that was ½ off this season….

"Leni! LENI! Put down the shoes! I saw your room, you have at least twelve pairs at home!"

"BUT- BUT THEY'RE ON SAAAALLLE!"

...they stood in line at the checkout center, an excited grin on her face the whole time.

"...I'm really glad we did this." She whispered to him.

"Yeah...me too…" he grumbled.

Finally, at the front of the line, she greeted the cashier ready to ring up their purchase. Apparently, they knew each other.

"Hey, Fiona!"

"Hey, girlfriend! You see that shoe sale down on aisle 7?"

"Yeah, they'd look so cute on me..."she answered frowning in regret.. "But I'm just here to buy these. Here's my gift card, and make sure to enter my employee discount."

"Wait...you _work_ here?" Loki asked her.

"Yeah! That's how I'm paying for all of your guy's stuff."

_She's paying for all of it?_ He was expecting her to at least chip in a few bucks in case he was short, (which looking at the register's price indicator he was going to be way more than just short), but Loki by no means expected her to foot the bill. That was going far too out of her way to be helpful. Gently, he placed his hand over her outstretched one preventing Leni from passing the card along.

"I can't ask you to do that. That's _your_ gift card and your employee discount. You should save it for something special." he told her frowning.

"This _is _something special." she told him moving her hand away "Besides, you guys need clothes, and I'm so stoked to get them for you. I would have made them myself but I don't have enough materials back at home."

"Are...are you sure?" he asked, guilt hammering at his conscious.

"When it's for family, I'm super sure." She turned and passed the card over to her friend, who then proceeded to ring her up.

She...really considered them family? "Leni that's...really sweet but we're not-"

"And that my girl, is why you got this job!" Her coworker beamed at her. Looking confused she then inquired "I thought you only had _one_ brother? Who's this?"

"I thought I did too! But he's like totally my brother from another dimen-"

"Denomination!" He quickly cut her off. "Denomination. Of Mormonism! That's what she was going to say...right? Leni?" he asked her through gritted teeth.

She squinted at him, not understanding his silent plea, but then her eyebrows shot up in comprehension. "O-oh right! Totally! Yeah, he's just visiting from out of town."

"Brother Loki! Of the..the...Laterer Day Saints. Pleased to meet you."

He told her shaking his hand and putting on his most friendly smile.

"Oh really? Well nice to meet you too...but I'm not even exagerating when I say you look just like her sister Lori." Fionna pointed out. "You twins?"

"Cousins actually! Big Mormon family, you know how it is!" _Big moron family is more like it..._He thought. "Anyways we should probably-"

"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS THAT AIRHEADED SIMPLETON?" a voice shouted.

"Huh?" Loki asked looking behind him.

"LENI LOUD! I'D LIKE A WORD WITH YOU!

"Uh oh."

A woman in what looked like her mid-thirties quickly approached them, her high heels clicking against the marble floor. She wore a woman's suit, had red hair, glasses, and a fixed scowl on her face. Judging by the crow's feet around her eyes it looked like she did that quite often.

"Uh hey Mrs. Carmichael…how are you?" Leni greeted her, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No Leni. As a matter of fact, you haven't," she answered in a low tone.

"Oh good, cause I was like really worried-"

"Because you have to _actually _show up to do something wrong! This is the _third _time this month you've missed work entirely! Do you ever check your schedule?!" She demanded.

At her words, she remembered that she did, in fact, have a shift scheduled for that morning but it was the furthest thing from her mind since the events of the previous day. "Oh my gosh! You're right! Im sooo sorry! I've kinda had a family crisis and I totally spaced this morn-"

"Your excuses mean nothing to me! If it was so urgent then you should have requested someone to cover your shift! This is the most important season for my department, and we're short-handed as it is!"

"I'm...I'm sorry…"

"So you can come here to shop for some new clothes, but you can't even show up for your shift?" Looking away in disgust she told her," I don't even know why I bothered to hire you. All you do is take advantage of our deals, and put things in the wrong section."

Leni looked like she was about to burst into tears at the woman's words and Loki couldn't help but feel agitated at how cruel and unprofessional she was being. "Hey. You don't have to-"

"Leni Loud, you are done here-"

"No actually, I think you're done." Loki told her taking a step forward

"Excuse me?"

Unclenching his hands and putting on an air of superiority he sank into his role without hesitation. "Your employee here has been treating me with nothing but kindness and courtesy as she helped me choose some of this store's hottest outfits of the season." He explained using Leni's exact words.

"She actually came here to explain her situation when she stopped what she was doing, completely putting the customer above her own needs. And you're gonna fire her because she's had a few bad days this month?" He asked incredulously. " I'd have to mark that down as the second biggest mistake you've made in running this store."

Mrs. Carmichael's eyes widened at that. "Wait..._second_? Who are you?"

"Jeff Meyers," Loki told her taking a business card out of his wallet and handing it to her. "Mall quality and safety inspector and cosplay enthusiast."

She scanned the blue and white card with a critical eye, taking note of the many costumes and fantasy patterns printed on it.

"Safety inspector? I wasn't informed one was coming today..."

"What would be the point in telling you I was coming if I didn't want to see how you _regularly_ manage this place? Telling you ahead of time would have had you scrambling to get everything up to code." He told her winking at Leni and Fionna. Even Leni had to recognize that gesture.

"Everything up to...what do you claim is not up to code in my place of business?" She asked maintaining her scowl.

"Ha! Where do I start?" Loki scoffed. "I've almost slipped on two spills since I got here with no wet floor sign to warn people about it. The fluorescent lights are constantly blinking which is a big nono for anyone who might be epileptic. But without a doubt, the biggest infraction I've noticed is your wall hangers."

"My...wall hangers?" she asked confused.

"Article 17, subsection 2, paragraph 5 of the Royal Woods Mall Safety Standards guide clearly states that the hangers in any changing room must be at least 6 ½ feet above the floor in order to prevent possible injury or death. Yours were at 6 ft."

Oh, he had her now.

Before she could come up with anything to defend herself with, he leaned forward and told her quietly. "I _literally _could have impaled my skull on one of those things while I was changing. Five people in the U.S. alone have already died this year due to some yahoos negligence. One slip, and it would've been over. But you clearly didn't think about that, did you?"

"I...I uh…"

_Now to send it home. _"Leni here is the only reason I'm not marking your store down in my report, and why I'm telling you all of this now. She's actually volunteered to give me a tour of the place. You really should invest in more quality employees like her."

The two girls just stared at him mouth agape, unable to comprehend that anyone could talk to their boss like that. Leni looked confused more than anything else, but Fiona was internally cheering at this guy's act and doing everything she could to keep a grin off her face.

Coming out of her shock Mrs. Carmichael put on her most professional smile and said. "Of...of course! I do apologize, Mr. Meyers, I might have spoken too soon. And you're absolutely right. Ms. Loud is one in a million, isn't she?" she said putting a friendly arm around Leni's shoulder as if they were longtime friends.

"Yes, she is."

The clothes now in their bags Fionna handed him his items, looking impressed. "Here you are, sir."

"Thank you, Miss. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to continue my inspection with Ms. Loud. I _do_ hope the next time I'm here things are significantly more...up to code."

Those words made her stomach do a somersault.

"Yes absolutely! Welcome to the Royal Woods mall. And Leni, don't worry about missing work. If it's a family emergency I completely understand. See you next Monday?"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, definitely," she answered

And with that, they made their exit out the glass doors, a satisfied smirk on his face at his own performance. From there they walked in silence with no particular direction in mind.

"That...was crazy." she suddenly told him.

"I know."

"She let me off scott free!"

"Yeah I know," he said nodding.

"And I can't believe your names actually Jeff."

"Yeah I…."

"I mean it's an _okay_ name but you looked way more like a Loki to me."

Turning to gape at her, he couldn't keep the frustration and astonishment from his face.

"What?" Leni asked innocently.

"Oh come on, you cannot be this dense! I-" _Yes she can ya dingdong. _He suddenly realized. _She's the girl version of Loni for crying out loud. _At that moment he didn't know whether to be more angry at the fact that his little performance went completely over her head, or that she had almost blown their cover. "Leni, I literally pulled all of that out of my ass."

"Eww! Gross!"

Realizing his own poor choice of words he corrected himself. "N-no I mean I made it all up so that you wouldn't get fired!"

"...you did?"

"Yeah, but that's not the point. What the heck was that with your friend back there? We're not supposed to tell anyone rem-"

She quickly grasped his hand in both of hers and held it close to her face.

"Thank you! Thank you! You have no clue what that job means to me! I would've been destroyed if I lost it again!" Leni told him, finally understanding why she was still employed.

"Y-yeah it's fine. Don't worry about it." He told her pulling his hand away. What was it with her and literally grabbing people's hands? "But I'm serious, you can't just tell people who I am. I'm not even supposed to be here with you."

"I just thought that since mom and dad found out, it wouldn't be such a big deal if other people knew."

"How'd you figure that?"

"Well...you think a ton of people would believe me anyway?"

_Huh..._considering her words, it actually did make some sense, in a backward kinda way. Hell, even after the shakedown from Lynn Sr. they still weren't convinced of their story. _Okay, maybe she isn't that dense. _Loki then remembered the whole reason he put on that role was so that bitch would quit yelling at her, and now he was doing the exact same thing.

"Look let's...let's just get something to eat. I'm starving, are you?"

…...

"So where did you get that business card?" she asked him after they sat at a table and waited for their food to arrive.

"It was something Loni gave to me at one of his conventions. Told me if I called the guy he'd 'change my life'. Never did. Just been sitting in my wallet for a year now."

"But...that all sounded like something a safety inspector would say," she told him, "all those rules and stats…"

He was actually impressed with himself with that as well. Though his brother Lane was far more of a trickster than Loki would ever be, he occasionally lived up to the Norse God's name by getting himself, his friends, and even his other siblings out of some tight spaces in the past. "Enh...you talk and act like you're exactly where you're supposed to be, people will pretty much believe anything you tell em." He explained.

"What if she like didn't believe you and looks up your name or something?"

"Ha! Did you _see_ the look on her face?" He asked her with a grin. "Trust me Leni, she's not gonna think twice about it." At least, he really hoped she _wouldn't_.

She chuckled at that. "Yeah, she looked pretty freaked out."

"Besides…" he trailed off. "I know it's not my place to say, but...I don't think you should be working for someone like that."

"Oh, Mrs. Carmichaels not that bad." She told him with a dismissive hand. "She's just nervous cause our sales have been going down lately and everyone's been shopping at our competitors. Like, who can say "no" to a dress at 75% off?"

"She kinda _is_ Leni." Maybe it was because she reminded him so much of Loni, or maybe it was the elder brother in him talking, but seeing her get treated like that had really rubbed him wrong. "I've had dickhead bosses in the past too, and none of them would openly insult me in public like she did to you. That's so not cool."

She looked down at this, unable to look him in the eye.

"Yeah, I know. Believe it or not, Lori's told me almost the exact same thing. She and my other siblings were worried people would walk all over me as I got older. But then I totally impressed Mrs. Carmichael by giving out all the clothes I was gonna buy this one time. _That's_ why she offered me the job. I guess she forgot…"

"All I'm saying is...maybe give some thought about finding a new one. A better one. I don't know your sister, but I'm pretty sure that's what she'd want for you. I know that's what I'd want for Loni."

Looking up at him, a smile touched the corner of her mouth at his words.

"Oh, sick! Foods here!" he said looking up at the waiter bringing their trays. For Loki, he set down a plate with two hot-dogs, and Leni, a salad with a smoothie next to it.

He was about to take a bite when another female voice called Leni's name again. "Leni! Lori! Yoohoo!"

"Ugghh, what now?"

Squinting, Leni turned to look over her shoulder. "Oh no! That's Carol Pingrey!"

"_Carol_ Pingrey?" Loki asked with raised eyebrows.

"She's like Lori's arch-rival. They're always competing with each other in everything."

"We have a _Carl_ Pingrey back in my dimension but he's a total….buh...buh...buh…" was all he managed to get out as his eyes locked onto the figure about fifteen feet away.

Slowly approaching them was a girl around Loki's age, straight hair flowing, and hips swaying. She wore a purple shirt with a white collar, a brown checker patterned skirt and purple shoes. His mouth hung open and his eyes widened. There was a list of things Loki didn't expect to see in his life, and a hot, female version of his longtime rival just moved to the top of that list.

"Loki? Loki! Hey, snap out of it!" Leni told him waving and in his face.

After processing her words and remembering that he did have a girlfriend he looked at her and asked. "Huh? What?"

"I like, know I said that no one would believe me if I told them about you, but Carol and Lori _know each other. They have for years," _she whispered.

"...is that bad? That's bad, right?"

"Maybe! There's no way she's not gonna think something weird is up."

"Hate to eat and run, but you're probably right." He told her grabbing his hot dogs and getting out of his chair. "Let's get outta here!"

"Hey! Where you two going?! I just wanna chat for a sec." She called behind them.

Grabbing her purse and their clothes, and scrambling out of her chair, Leni ran off with Loki towards the escalator's that would take them to the ground floor. They scanned the area around them searching desperately for the exit. After making there way down each step Leni turned right….and ran straight into a lamppost with an echoing SMACK.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?!" Loki asked kneeling over her. If that were Loni he would have burst out laughing at his mistake, but seeing her make headfirst contact with it just made him cringe in pain.

"Totes! Let's keep going!" she said getting up and resuming her run.

"I don't see her I think we can just...

_SMACK_

..walk-

_SMACK_

..out-

_SMACK_

..the door."

Loki tried to tell her as she ran into lamppost after lamppost in quick succession. Looking over his shoulder he could make out Carol riding the escalator down to meet them, with an expression that spoke both confusion and annoyance.

"Come on!"

It was Loki's turn to grab her by the hand, and they ran about twenty more feet in the opposite direction until they found some fake fern bushes to hide behind. He parted the branches allowing her in first and then soon followed. Loki was sitting down in the dirt as Leni looked over the edge of the bushes to see if Carol was still on their tail.

"I think we lost her." She whispered to him.

At that Loki started to chuckle uncontrollably, which then turned into hysterical laughter. Lying on his back and clutching at his sides, not even caring about the dirt he was getting on his new denim jacket, or being heard by passersby, he laughed at the insanity of everything that he'd seen and done after the last twenty-four hours. He had to if he was going to keep his sanity intact.

"What? What's so funny?" Leni asked, turning to look at him.

"Ahhh man…." he said getting in a sitting position "..this is all really happening isn't it?"

"What?"

Sighing he told her. "I literally just got done running away from a cute girl version of the guy I hate the most, and I'm in a dimension where half my brothers are girls. I'm not dreaming."

Sitting down next to him, she appeared to be mull over his words carefully. "Well...I could slap you again if you think that would wake you up..." she offered sheepishly.

For the next five seconds, they just sat there staring at one another, until Loki burst into another fit of laughter. This time Leni joined him.

After getting the giggles out of his system he saw Leni pull out her cellphone and aim it at both of them.

"#escape selfie!" she declared with a tiny click of the camera.

"_Really_?"

"I'm _not_ gonna post it on my insta." She told him defensively. "This is just something to remember the moment. You might not be having fun, but I'm having a _great _time."

He considered her words, though as risky as it could have been, he had formed a semblance of trust after the bullet they just dodged, and the photographer in him urged her on. "Heh...you know what? Screw it." He told her. "Selfie away."

"Yay!"

For the next five minutes, they both just sat there in the bushes and took a series of pictures together on her phone, some in silly poses, some in serious ones experimenting with different filters and lighting, some of which he'd never seen before in his own dimension. It was ridiculous of course, but for the first time since he got there, Loki was experiencing the closest emotion that could be called fun. More than anything it was a distraction, but it was exactly what he needed.

After Leni put her phone down to examine all the recently taken photos Loki said.

"Man I wish my phone wasn't busted so you could send...hey...what...what's wrong?" He asked her, concered.

Looking more closely at her, he saw tears trickling down her cheeks and her face turning red with emotion. The teardrops were landing on her screen, which now displayed pictures of Leni posing with a girl that had short blonde hair and a tanktop. He gestured for her to hand it to him, and he examined the photo more closely.

"...is that Lori?" It might as well have just been him with modest sized breasts and makeup on, he figured.

"I'm sorry." She told him drying her eyes"...its just that...me and her are like the queens of selfies and…and I guess I just really miss her." She then burst into tears, unable to hold it back anymore. "I miss them all!"

So she did understand the situation.

"Nonono, it's okay!" Loki told her putting a hand on her shoulder. He'd gotten use to the role of comforting his siblings after his mother passed, but Leni was still someone he didn't know a whole lot and seeing girls cry always made him feel slightly uncomfortable. "Please don't cry! I swear, Lisa's gonna fix all of this! Everything's gonna go back to-"

Suddenly she wrapped her arms around him, rested her head on his shoulder and bawled even harder, feeling the edges of her hair brush against his cheek.

_Okay...this is happening now… _he thought, unsure of what to do and keeping his hands at his sides.

"I'm so sorry…" she choked out.

"For what?"

"..about what my dad said to you guys," she explained gripping him harder. "He's was a total dummy and he shouldn't have talked to you like that. Lexx looked so..."

"Hey, we don't care." He lied. "We're just glad Mr. Louds not leavin' us hanging."

"It doesn't make it okay!" she protested. "And I meant what I said before.."

She then broke the hug, placed her hands on his shoulders and met his gaze.

"No matter what my dad says you guys _are_ family. You're a Loud just like me. You wanna know how I know that?"

"...umm...because we have the same last name?"

A ghost of a smile touched her face and she told him.

"Because only my family would stop me from getting fired."

It took Loki a second to process her words. Sighing, he slowly wrapped his arms around the girl that looked like his brother and returned the hug. Her reasoning was questionable, but he could tell it came from the heart. She obviously needed some comforting and the warmth that radiated off of her was...a welcome and familiar kind. And the two sat in the dirt holding one another until Loki came up with the only thing he could say.

"...thank you for the clothes Leni," he whispered. "Hey.." he told her, reaching into his wallet and pulling something out "wanna see a picture of my little sister Linka?"

"Your sister's name is Linka?! AAAIIIIII!" she squealed in excitement.

"...that was literally _right_ in my ear."

...

What kind of stuff would you like to see next? More aggression and tention or camraderie and light heartedness?


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: okay this was by far the longest chapter I've wriiten and it took me the whole week to get it to the point where I was satisfied enough to post it (but even then there are parts to this I'm still not wild about). I intially wanted to make Lynn more agressive during the scene but figured I should give each of the brothers some time to display how they all felt about their current situation. I have big plans for all dem sibs. Thank you and enjoy. I don't own the Loud House, it is owned by Nickolodeon studios**

Chapter 8

Pizza Time

For a second, the thought crossed Lincoln's mind that maybe he was the only one in the house, but quickly dismissed it as he realized that since everyone's summer plans were now officially put on hold, no one would dare try to make an exit (another thing he decided he would feel guilty for). This silence was one of defeat, not vacancy, and it was a defeat that every occupant was currently sharing, even while Lisa continued her repairs and the boys isolated themselves to Leni's room.

As he lay on his bed, Bun Bun still clutched to his chest, part of Lincoln considered just closing his eyes again. To take the chance that maybe this was indeed just another bad dream that he would wake from up, if he went to sleep. Just as he had all those months ago. Unfortunately, his wishful thinking was halted as he felt the vibration of his phone in his back pocket.

Pulling it out he checked his most recent messages; his best friend Clyde had just asked him if he wanted to come over to his house to catch the most recent episode of "AARGH!", their favorite paranormal ghost hunting reality show (even though they were now fully aware that the show was anything but a product of reality).

Any other day he would have jumped at the opportunity, but this wasn't any other day. Right then and there he was tempted to spill his guts to his friend about everything going on in his life, as he had many times in the past, but remembering his father's orders he sent him:

Lincoln

_Sorry man. I'm grounded. Full house arrest._

Well, his father hadn't technically used the words grounded. In fact he'd said essentially the opposite, but he had laid down the law which unapologetically stated that each of them were expected to aid Lisa in anyway that would lead to the return of his missing family. Frankly Lincoln took offense to that; did their father really think them all so low as to go on with their lives like their sisters weren't gone and just have Lisa rebuild her machine all by herself?

Clyde

_Yikes! Whaddya do to warrant that if you don't mind me asking? :0_

Lincoln

_I messed up. I _really _messed up. And I hurt my family._

Clyde

_Posted another embarrassing vid of your sisters?_

Lincoln

_I wish that was all it was_

Clyde

_That sucks :/ But I know you buddy so you probably didn't mean it._

Of course he didn't, but somehow it was always the thoughtless mistakes that managed to sting him more than outright bullheadedness. Lincoln then realized though he couldn't inform his friend about everything going on in his life, he could still vent just a little.

Lincoln

_No. But I still feel terrible. I don't know what to do._

Clyde

:( _Dr. Lopez told me something once about mistakes that I_ _think could really help_ _you put your situation into perspective._

Lincoln groaned internally at Clyde mentioning his psychologist for the umpteenth time. He was sure the countless therapy sessions were helpful to his friend, but Lincoln highly doubted that anything anyone said, certified shrink or not, could make him feel any less miserable than he already was. That felt especially true since Clyde didn't even know the full extent of his situation. But not wanting to blow him off he replied:

Lincoln

_Hit me._

Clyde

_She explained to me that 'a man is not defined by how he falls but by how he gets back up.'_

Lincoln sat up and looked at the text over again. He was more expecting something along the lines of 'don't internalize' or try not to 'over-analyze', which he was way past doing at this point. What Clyde had sent him was actually kinda...comforting. Something about it made him feel calmer. Not better, but calmer. Calm enough to pull himself out of his own misery for a few minutes and consider what it really meant.

Had he fallen? For sure, but was this something you could get even back up from? A part of him considered just coming clean to everyone about his role in all of this but then how would that improve anything? It wouldn't, and his sister would have taken all that blame for nothing.

Clyde

_That might not be helpful to you, but its always worked for me whenever I got in some hot water with my dads. If nothing else maybe show them how sorry you are. Do some chores around the house, make them a card or order some take out for them?_

Takeout...

The word stuck out to him the most and a plan started to come together. He quickly typed his response to his friend.

Lincoln

_Clyde you're the smartest man I know, and if I haven't told you that before, I'm telling you now. I gtg. We'll talk later._

Putting his phone away he felt a new determination envelope his system. Yes, his mother was still in distress, yes his father was furious at all of them and yes there was a thick air of mistrust, confliction, and uncertainty between his sisters and his interdimensional brothers. All of which he could feel sorry for himself about. But his father had been right in a way. Punishment wouldn't change anything, self administered or otherwise.

Though he couldn't solve this crisis in a day, there was still some control that until now Lincoln had completely forgotten he had. No. No this is not how the day was going to end, he decided.

He quickly jumped off his bed, and ran into Lana's room who was sitting on her own curled up with her various reptilian and amphibian pets. It was a sight similar to all of the rooms other current occupants. Hops croaked out a greeting for her.

"Lans, I need you to do me a big favor". He asked, "Do you still know how to reroute the electrical wiring in the house?"

She sat up to look at him, still clutching her best amphibian friend. "Duh. I'm six-years-old, not three. Why?" she asked confused.

He felt a mischievous grin creep across his face as he told her, ."Cause we're ordering pizza."

…...

At Lincoln's summunce, every Loud sibling entered the dining room shortly followed by Loki and his brothers, the two groups maintaining a noticeable distance from each other. Everyone was greeted to the sight of Lincoln and Leni laying out dinner plates all along the dining room table. About seven thin cardboard square boxes sat on top of each other and at the center of it, 12oz bottles of Cola circled around them.

Turning to address them all he asked cheerfully, "Hey guys! How's everybody feeling?" They all either looked away or rolled their eyes at the obliviousness of his inquiry.

"Right...dumb question." he decided. The change of the boy's wardrobe from the other day then caught Lincoln's attention. Luke had on a red plaid button up and black jeans, Lynn's red and white jersey was now black and white, and Lexx sported a white dress-shirt and brown khaki shorts. Those definitely didn't belong to Lincoln, and anything his father owned would be far too big. "Hey, where did you guys get those clothes?"

"Leni got them for us at the mall." Loki answered, feeling his new Denim jacket and cargo pants."I helped her pick them out but she paid for it all. Again, we can't thank you enough for that." He told her.

"Yeah, that was...decent of ya." Luke muttered.

"Thank you, Leni." Lexx whispered looking at his feet.

Lynn Jr. just had his arms crossed and was looking away, having no intent to show any gratitude towards the blonde. After all why should he? It's not like he asked her to do it for him. In a casual motion, Loki scooted next to him and then put all of his weight into his right foot, stomping on Lynn's left.

"Ow! Geez, okay! _Thank you _for the clothes!" Lynn shouted, grabbing his foot and hopping on the other.

"No problem at all." She told them hands clasped in front of her and beaming.

Lincoln was grateful for her thoughtfulness as well, but he would have to remind her later of Lynn Sr.'s orders. Sighing he told them all, "Okay, I'm not even gonna try to sugar coat it anymore: we all really got off on the wrong foot yesterday. And my parent's reaction to you guys (not that I blame them) didn't help anything." Rubbing the back of his head he continued "I'm really sorry about what my dad said to you."

"It's cool." Loki explained shaking his head. "They had every right to be angry. And Mr. Loud's right; it's not like we're family or anything."

"I told him we are, but he still doesn't believe me." Leni whispered into Lincoln's ear.

Not sure what to make of his sister's comment he continued, "Still, I'll bet it didn't feel very good to hear-"

"We don't care. Now, what do you want, _Stinka_?" Lynn interrupted.

At this point he'd gotten used to boy Lynn's aggressive behavior so he merely rolled his eyes and told him, "First of all, it's not Stinka, it's Stincoln. If you're gonna insult me, do it right. Second; I figured that if you guys are going to be here for some time, I should try to make your stay here as comfortable as possible. _We _should try to make you feel as comfortable as possible." He told them arms spread to indicate his other siblings. "Even if mom and dad don't want to right now."

"Lincoln, that's not our-"

"While I can't give you guy's a traditional family meal," he continued ignoring Luan's protests, "I can give you the next best thing." Reaching behind, he lifted the lid off the top box and revealed to them the fruit of Lana's labor; an extra large pie with cheese, pepperoni, and anchovies. "Pizza."

The heavenly smell of the pie hit the boys all at once and Loki stepped forward to get a better whiff, eyebrows raised in suspicion. "Wait is that...no way, it can't be…" He picked up a slice, sniffed it experimentally and took the first bite. His pupils visibly dilated, and his mouth started to water, a wave of nostalgia washing over his senses. "Guys.." he choked out, "..this is _Shakey's _pizza!"

"Say what?!" Luke questioned.

"You're kidding..." Lynn told him, now looking on in interest.

"I'm _literally _not even kidding! Try it for yourself!", he encouraged.

Luke then stepped forward and grabbed a slice of his own. Taking a bite and laughing he confirmed to his siblings ,"He ain't playin' dudes! It _is Shakey's_ pizza!"

An open mouthed grin suddenly formed on Lexx and Lynn's faces and they rushed to the table to get in on the action.

"Hey save some for me!" Lynn demanded.

"I saw it first!" Lexx cried, coming out of his broken demeanor.

Lincoln and Leni both shared a smile and proceeded to serve pizza and soda out to all of their guests as they all found their seats along the table, backs facing the window. His sister's on the other hand appeared hesitant to sit, but at Lincoln's prompting they soon joined in, eating slowly, with questioning looks on their faces.

The boys on the other side, however, were ravaging through their slices, stringy bits of cheese and pepperoni flying everywhere and shuddering at how good it tasted. Leon as well sat in Lily's highchair chewing on a slice with what few teeth he had. Though Lincoln had a feeling this would lift their spirits, he wasn't expecting such an...intimate reaction.

"Ya know at our table, we kinda like to breath while we eat." Luan quipped.

"Gross." added Lucy.

"Pfft, I can get grosser than that!" Lana declared eating faster.

"That was not a challenge..." Lisa told her, putting one hand over her plate.

Food stuff started landing on Lincoln's hand and he couldn't suppress his own curiosity anymore. "Wow, you guys are really putting that stuff away." He commented "Been awhile since you had _Shakey's_?"

Luke who had his feet propped up on the table and lounged in his chair answered, . "Oh right! Nah brah, you don't understand; we don't have a _Shakey's _pizza back in our dimension. Our joint burned down over a year ago."

"Seriously? How'd that happen?" Lincoln asked surprised at the concept.

Nodding his head Loki answered "Arson. It was literally the worst."

"Twas gone too soon!" Lexx confirmed extending his hand dramatically.

Lynn turned on his little brother at his phrasing"..._that's_ what you consider gone too soon?!" he demanded in a low tone.

With half lidded eyes Loki told him; "Lynn, either shut up and eat your pizza, or we will gladly eat it for you."

_"Ooohhh,_ hear that Lexxy?" Luke egged him on. "Lynnsanity says he doesn't want any of his pizza!"

"Hmm...more for us then!" Lexx said reaching for one of Lynn's slices.

_"Heyheyheyhey,_ I didn't say that, ya vultures!" The jock protested covering his plate with his upper body.

Loki mouthed the words '_thank you' _to Luke, which he returned with a fist bump.

_This is going great! _Lincoln thought. Definitely a far more positive reaction than he'd expected, and he silently thanked whatever God's there were that the _Shakey's _in their dimension had burned down...as weird as that was to be grateful for.

The girls at this point had just stopped eating entirely and were staring at the boys, looks that shifted in a continuous cycle; curiosity at the similarities they had with their missing sisters, awkwardness at the situation they found themselves in and revulsion at the table manners none of the seemed to possess. Yet the boys didn't seem to notice the girls were even there, the pizza was that good. Lincoln gave his sisters a sheepish shrug and then attempted to break the ice.

"So uh...why don't you guys tell us a little bit about Royal Woods #2? I was only there for a day so I didn't really get the whole experience" Lincoln proffered.

The boys looked up at that and Loki swallowed enough so he could speak, catching on to Lincoln's attempt to ease the tension. "It's funny actually, I noticed a few-"

"Hang on a minute", Lynn interrupted still chewing his food, "why are _we_ Royal woods #2?"

"I was just using the number as a reference..." Lincoln explained.

"No way! If anything we're Royal Woods #1 and you guys are Royal Woods #2!" He rebuked pointing a slice of pizza at him.

"Does it really matter who's #1 and who's #2?" Lincoln asked slightly annoyed.

"I'm just sayin' what makes your guy's Royal Woods so much better than ours?!" Lynn demanded.

"I didn't say it was-"

"Well for one thing….you guys don't have a _Shakey's_." Lucy commented glaring at the jock. "We do. I'd say that already puts us in the lead."

"Ehhh she's gotcha there, mate…" Luke told him.

Before he could think of any rebuttal, the words left an impression on Lynn's mind and he dropped the subject, neither conceding nor pressing it further. _I guess any reality where mom is still alive would be better than ours_… he thought.

Lincoln half expected Luan to make a bathroom pun at the words #1 and #2 but she as well was glaring at the guests across from her with nothing but contempt in her eyes.

"Sigh...even as a boy Lynn has to be #1 at everything…" Lucy muttered.

"Please. The solution to this debacle is quite simple." Lisa stated. "Your dimension should be dubbed Dimension XY and ours shall be Dimension XX."

"...is that like an algebra thing or somethin'?" Lynn asked slightly confused.

"Dumbass! She's talking about genetics. XX chromosomes are what girls have, XY chromosomes are what guys have. It's what determines all the _fun bits._"

They all paused their eating to gaze at the young rocker, taken aback by the piece of knowledge he just dropped.

"That's...actually correct Luke." Lisa told him slowly, "I'm surprised you knew that…"

"Well, gee kid, don't act completely stunned." He told her crossing his arms in a sarcastic tone of voice. "I might actually get offended."

"N-no I was merely taking note of the intellectual differences between you and your female opposite." She quickly explained.

_"...sooo your_ saying your sisters an idiot?"

"T-that is not at all what I'm trying to convey!" she stammered.

"...so you're saying _I'm_ an idiot?!" He demanded leaning forward and staring daggers at Lisa. Everyone went still at Luke's words and the tension in the room thickened heavily. Lincoln remembered that of all the boys from dimension XY Luke was the most easily angered, but he didn't actually consider the possibility that he'd take it out on a complete stranger. Let alone a little girl.

"Negative!" She told him. "You are misinterpreting everything I am stating.."

"Luke...don't do this…" Loki breathed.

The room was silent as Luke fumed his emotions, the girls gripping their plates in case he did actually try something. Seconds passed and it seemed like everything was going to come to a head...until Luke broke out in hysterical laughter. He clutched his side and pounded the table with a closed fist as he giggled, while Lincoln and Loki let go of the breaths they didn't realize they were holding.

"I-I'm just messing with ya kid!", he told them through his amusement, "I don't give a shit what you think about me."

"God, Luke you are such a….to answer your original question," Loki said getting back on track "I did notice a few differences between yours and our dimension."

"...a few?" Luke chuckled cupping a pair of imaginary breasts on his chest.

The girls faces either flushed red or they glared at Luke for his suggestive comment. Picking up on their discomfort, Loki hurled a breadstick at his brother, his patience with him wearing thin as well.

He blocked his face at a second throw and told him, "Hey! Watch the duds!"

"Okay, there's _a lot _of differences." Loki admitted glaring at Luke. "Like our dad did not open his own restaurant. How long has that been a thing over here?" Loki asked

Coming out of his nervous state, Lincoln then told them the story of how their father finally managed to get his restaurant off the ground and their less than noble attempts to promote it to the public. As they reminisced of better times, twinges of sadness crept up on all of his sisters. That may not have been one of his siblings finer moment's but even a conflict as petty as that was more preferable to what they were currently dealing with. Lisa, he noticed, began scribbling on a notepad with a pen, most likely taking notes of every difference he and Loki could differentiate.

_"Lynn's Table...",_ Loki said with a smile..I like it. Simple and to the point."

"I woulda thought of something radder like _Lynn's Den of Mayhem_." Luke said.

_"...greeeaat._ Now the next time he interrogates us we'll know how to respond..."

"Oh Lynn, you totes don't have to worry about that!", Leni told him missing his sarcasm completely, "And by the way, none of you have to stay cooped up in my room."

"Yeah guys, feel free explore the house or to step outside whenever you want some fresh air. This place isn't a prison." Lincoln added.

"...coulda fooled me." Lynn muttered to them both.

"We...appreciate the thought.." Loki told them remembering the rules he set with his other siblings, "but I think we're just gonna play it safe for now..."

"Hey Loki, can I have head scratchies?" Lexx suddenly asked.

"No can do little-man. Need two-hands for eating this pie"

"I'll do it!" Leni volunteered, scooting her chair next to his. "Lola asks for this like all the time", she told him running her hands through his blonde locks. "Oh! Your hairs so smooth! What kind of shampoo do you use?"

_"Silky Butter Formula #3"_

"That's the same kind I use!" Leni declared grinning.

"Mmm...I like this wench." Lexx told Loki grinning.

Lincoln choked on his food at that, and all the girls on his side felt their blood begin to boil at the little prince's remark.

"LEXX!" Loki exclaimed, voicing his own bewilderment.

"What? Tis' merely what she is!"

Lana squinted at this. "...why you callin' my sister a piece of hauling equipment?"

"Not a _winch_ you misguided homosapien, a _wench_." Lisa told her, groaning.

"I-it means like uh...a girl or a young woman," Loki lied, "and no she's not, you little twerp…" he told Lexx in a low tone.

"Sounds fine to me." Leni responded. "Hear that guys? I'm a wench!"

Luke suddenly spit out his pizza at Leni's words and started howling in another fit of laughter knowing full well what it meant.

Completely embarrassed, the eldest brother covered his face in his hands, "….I'm gonna get killed in my sleep tonight, aren't I?"

Standing up and slamming her fist on the table to get him to quit laughing Luan declared. "HEY GUYS, I GOT A JOKE! What's the only difference between a black hole and a punk with a stupid sense of humor?!"

Luke's laughing subsided as he looked at the young comedian, realizing she was talking about him.

"Ones in the middle of outer space, and the other is sitting at our table!" she yelled.

"Hey, what the hell did I do?!" Luke demanded, sitting up in true outrage this time.

"LUAN!"

Turning away and looking disgusted Luan asked, "Lincoln, Leni...can I speak to you both for a minute...in private?"

"Yeah...we need to talk." Lucy added.

"Family meeting!" Lana declared.

Lincoln wanted to protest but then figured that some time away from the boys was probably for the best, as he didn't know how much longer he and Loki could keep the peace. "...fine..guys would you mind if I talk with my sisters for a sec?"

"Yeah, go ahead. I think we need to talk too." Loki said turning to face the three of them with narrowed eyes.

"Ohhh here we go…" Luke groaned.

….

Once they were all piled into his linen closet bedroom, Luan shut the door and spun on Lincoln and Leni, complete outrage in her voice. "What the hell, guys?!"

"So their table manners are a little questionable… " Lincoln admitted rubbing the back of his head.

"Try non-existent." Lisa commented.

"...but its _Shakey's_, girls! Everyone loves _Shakey's! _And they haven't had it in a year."

Luan face palmed herself. "It's not just _that_, ya yutz! Why the pizza in the first place?! Why the soda?! Why any of this?!"

"I'm with Luan. Giving them food and shelter is one thing, but treating them to pizza and pretending like all of this...normal...is something else entirely." Lucy added.

"Yeah, what gives bro?" asked Lana

Taking a deep breath and steeling himself, he explained, "Okay...I'm glad we're getting this conversation out of the way. You're right to feel weirded out by all of this. But so do they. Like I said, I'm trying to make them feel more comfortable. And I need your guy's help. Mom and Dad have made it clear that they don't want anything to do with them. How is she by the way?" he asked looking at the second eldest.

"She's okay I guess." Leni answered with a shrug. "She like won't talk to anyone, but she's eating the food I give her, and going to the bathroom, so that's something."

"And there's reasons for that!" Luan stated. "You think she's comfortable staying in the same house as those guys? Because I'm not! They're violent!"

"They're gross..." Lucy said.

"They're strangers!" Lana stated.

"THEY'RE NOT OUR SISTERS!" The three of them shouted in unison.

"Like ANY of you can talk!" Lincoln pointed out, " You guys are just as much strangers to them as they are to you. I agree, their behavior isn't what I'd call appropriate, but they're just dealing with all of this in their own way. And how many fights have we gotten into in the past over something as dumb as who gets the last slice of pizza?"

"Were any of us ever at risk of getting a black eye during one of those fights?" Luan asked one eyebrow raised.

He tried to think of a retort, but knew that explaining to her it was all just a misunderstanding was a fairly weak argument.

"Didn't think so."

"Well, what about you Lana?" Lincoln asked. "You've always been a messy eater. Out of all of us I'd thought you'd be the first to warm up to them."

"Hey! When I'm eating I don't put my feet up on the table, I don't swear, and I know how to say 'please' and 'thank you'." She told him. "Lola taught me that…"

Leni then stepped forward hands clenched at hers sides and gave her thoughts on the matter. "You're right. They're not our sisters...but they are our _brothers_."

"Oh, not this again!" Luan exclaimed throwing her hands in the air.

"You can't possibly believe that…" Lucy whispered.

"I don't _believe_ it, I _know_ it! And you guys say my head is full of air?!" She asked incredulously. "Lisa said it herself! They have the same blood as we do, so that makes them family!"

"Technically, I only pointed out the fact that we're biologically connected to them", Lisa told them all, maintaining a neutral expression. "And I never used the word 'family'; that term is more or less subjective in today's society."

"Oh whatever! Where are your guy's hearts?!" Leni demanded.

"Leni, they're sexist jerks. They just insulted you and laughed about it."

"He's six years old!" Lincoln told Lucy, "Lexx probably doesn't even know what that word mean-"

"Don't bother Lucy!" Luan cut in, "Leni wouldn't know when she was being insulted, if someone walked up to her and spat in her face."

"Jokes on you! I got chewed out at work today, and it felt terrible! So _ha!_"

They all looked at her, confused, for a few seconds before Lincoln pulled them back to the topic at hand. "Don't you guys get it? They don't have anyone else!" He declared. "This is our chance to take an already crappy situation and make it stink a little bit less."

"But we don't know them, Lincoln, and what we do know so far, I have a lot of problems with. Taking care of those nimrods isn't our responsibility!" Luan told him.

"Then let's _get to know them_. Let's eat with them, talk with them, get them on our good side and at the very least make this more bearable for all of us. I wasn't in their dimension long, but I know for a fact that getting along with them is possible. That's why I got the pizza and it's why I want to start sharing our rooms and to give them each a bed so they don't have to sleep on the floor the whole time they're here."

His three sisters collectively gasped and the annoyed expressions on their faces turned to incredulous fury. "Hard. Pass." Lucy said in a cold tone of voice.

"I told ya I ain't sleepin in a room with that kid!" Lana declared.

"You won't have to. I have a whole room arrangement in mind that would work for everyone." He trailed off feeling guilty. "...but that does mean Luan would have to give up hers."

"You're crazy! That guy's not going anywhere near my room." Luan told him crossing her arms. "They can sleep in the basement or the attic!"

"It's the middle of summer!" He protested, "They'll die of heatstroke if they have to stay up there and they'll freeze if they're down in the basement."

"Well...then what about Lisa's fallout shelter?" Lana pointed out.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible either as it's currently undergoing renovations." Lisa answered.

"The garage?" Lucy suggested.

"Vanzilla gets parked there every night. There would be _zero _room!" Leni said.

"Okay, then just keep them in Leni's room!"

"It's not _fair _to her to be the only one who has to make a sacrifice!" Lincoln retorted.

Luan crossed her arms and just looked at the floor. "I can accept the fact that they have to stay here until _somebody _fixes the machine… ", Luan said glaring at Lisa, "but I am not for one second going to share a room with him. And I am not going to start treating this like its normal. Not with a bunch of..._freaks_ in a place they don't belong."

It might have been Luan's choice of words or it might have been the fact that he was so tired of everyone being at each other's throats but in that moment Lincoln didn't give a damn about his original negotiation tactic. "AND IS THAT HOW YOU WOULD WANT LANE TO TREAT LUNA?!" he shouted startling everyone in the room.

She looked up at this and uncrossed her arms. "...who's Lane?"

"The boy version of you! That how you would want him to treat your sister?! Like some kind of _freak in a place she doesn't belong_? Cause by your logic that's exactly what our sisters are too; freaks in a world that they don't belong in!"

She appeared shaken by his words and tried to come with her own retort.

"What about you, Lucy? Is our Lynn just some stranger over there that deserves to sleep outside?!"

She looked away at that, remembering the time they all forced Lincoln to sleep in the yard because of a suspected jinx he had on the family. In the past he would never sink so low as to guilt trip someone into doing what he wanted. Now, he just didn't care.

"How about it Lana?! Lola too much of a _freak_ to be given anything to eat as well?" She too looked down at that.

"Or Lori?! Or Lily?! Or _any _of us! Anyone of us could've gotten hit by that beam, and we'd all be at the mercy of whoever we got stuck with over there!" Lincoln was heaving breaths of pure anger, his determination to make sure this day didn't end on a sour note being the only thing that made him switch to a calmer voice. Steadying his breathing, he explained, "I am _not _expecting you to treat them like they are family. But I _am _asking you to treat them like they're human beings. With emotions, and habits, and flaws. Similar to the ones that Lori, Luna, Lynn, Lola, and Lily have. To give them a chance and to give them a _God. Damned. Bed. _Is that _so _unreasonable?"

They all seemed to consider his words, guilt forming on three of his sisters faces, clearly imagining what kind of treatment their sister's might be going through in the other dimension. About thirty seconds passed, no one saying anything until Lisa spoke up adjusting her glasses. "No...no I don't believe it is."

She took a step forward and nodded. "While I find this new living situation to be inconvenient and more than a little uncomfortable, I'll let Leon reside in my living space."

He turned to look at the goth girl who was the next to concede. "Grooooaan...alright."

He turned his glare to Lana.

"Okay! I'll...talk to the little weirdo. Just quit lookin' at me like that…" she answered in a quiet voice.

He turned to look at Leni.

"No complaints from me. It'll be fine, guys! I spent like the whole day with Loki, and he's totes not a creeper like I thought he was."

Finally he bore his stare into his sister that put up the most resistance.

"Luan, if privacy is that much of a concern for you, you can take my room and move all of your stuff in there. I can make sacrifices too." Lincoln assured her.

The fourth eldest wiped her eyes and sighed. "Alright Lincoln. I'll keep rooming with Leni. But let me be clear; I'm not doing this for him…" She said, before turning around. That was perfectly fine with Lincoln, as long as he was done fighting tooth and nail with everyone for the evening.

"Lets head back downstairs, before they _destroy_ the kitchen." Luan spat.

Slowly they all filed out of Lincoln's room, the tension in the air fading once again. Despite how he fiercely defended his interdimensional guests, he was not looking forward to the mess they had probably made down there. He too, was frustrated at their behavior and wondered if that was how they regularly acted in front of Linka. For her sake, he really hoped not.

Just then a new sound caught everyone's attention. It started off slow and seemed to pick up in a steady rhythm. Was that...strumming? Lincoln and the girls then ran down the stairs to investigate, poking their heads in the doorway to get a better look.

The boys were cleaning all the dishes. Luke was sitting on the counter playing the family's acoustic guitar and tapping out a beat with his foot against the cupboard, while Loki and Lynn scrubbed and handed the plates to baby Leon to dry with a cloth. Lexx was walking around with a dustpan and a broom sweeping the kitchen floor as well. And they were just cleaning. Like Lincoln and his sisters would if they were assigned chores, with Luna on her guitar to make it a little less tiresome. The song he played was downbeat and it gave everyone pause. Lincoln had heard his sister play it many times before.

Luke

_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road_

_Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go_

_So make the best of this test and don't ask why_

_It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time_

_It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right_

_I hope you had the time of your life_

The song was by no means a happy one, but something about the way Luke played it gave it a much more...sorrowful feeling.

Luke

_So take the photographs and still frames in your mind_

_Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time_

_Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial_

_For whats its worth, it was worth all the while_

_It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right_

_I hope you had the time of your life_

His guitar strumming picked up as it entered the solo and he even began to whistle the Violin's piece that would normally accompany it. Lincoln couldn't help but smile at the melody. He turned to Luan looking rather smug. _"Before they destroy the kitchen,_ huh?" he whispered. Luan narrowed her eyes at him but then continued to stare at the boys. They all did, Lincoln in satisfaction, the girls in pure awe.

Luke

_It's something unpredictable, but in the end its right_

_I hope you had the time of your life_

As the song came to a close and his strumming slowed down, Lincoln and the girls all witnessed a single tear roll down the young rockers cheek. Whatever lecture Loki had given them, seemed to have worked. Perhaps even Luke felt guilty about everything that had just transpired.

"Dumbass..", Lynn said after he was finished, wiping his own eyes. "...why'd ya have to pick _that _song?"

"You wanna pick the next one? _You_ take up a bloody instrument and play it yoursel-WOAH WOAH WOAH!"

Caught by surprise at the sight of all the eyes on them, Luke slipped backwards off the counter, arms swinging to keep his balance. His booted foot knocked the wet dish out of Loki's hand and the young rocker landed hard on his back with a thud, clutching the guitar around him protectively. The plate snapped out of his grip and knocked Loki in the face, causing him to kneel in pain and clutch at his nose. "Mudur-FUCKR…" he spat through his hands.

The girls couldn't help but cringe at that. Lynn Jr. burst out laughing and Loki in response elbowed him in the groin causing him to collapse in pain as well. "..dude...that's like the one rule..", he choked out, "nothin' below the belt…"

"Guys, will you please! I wanna go to bed and get my beauty sleeeEeaE-"

To top it all off, Lexx then slipped on the fallen plate as he rounded the table, and he too landed on his back, the crumbs and dust from the pan he just filled spilling all over him. Leon merely stared at his brother's collapsed and pained forms then met the gaze of the surprised sister's faces.

"Poo-poo." He told them shrugging.

"MY SHIRT!"

_"My baaallls…."_

"See, this is _literally _the reason why I told you not to sit up there and sing while we did the dishes!"

"Oh, up yours, Loki! I was rockin' that tune!"

Leni ran to Lexx, pulled him up and dusted him off, while Lincoln offered Lynn his hand, but of course he just slapped it away and told him to buzz off. Out of her shock, Luan stepped forward and leaned over Luke, still clutching the back of his head. "Hey…"

Luke opened his eyes and met her gaze, then glared at her remembering her previous insult towards him.

"...looks like _fall _really came early for you this year…"

He blinked once in confusion.

"..heh heh...get it?" she asked as she stretched her hand for him to take.

Sighing he answered, "Yeah, I spose' I do…". He grabbed her offered limb and she pulled him to his feet. "Thanks...and uh...sorry."

"And thanks for the pizza!" Loki quickly added "We'll pay you back! Somehow.."

"Actually we didn't pay a cent for it." Lincoln told him smiling. "You have Lana to thank for that." He gestured to her now in the kitchen as well. "She rewired the electricity in the house so that when the pizza delivery guy rang the doorbell, it shocked him, and he ran off." He did feel kinda guilty about that, but his piggy bank had exactly zero cash in it and desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Ahhh...the 'old zap the pizza guy' trick. Nice one lil dudette!" Luke told her raising his hand for a high-five. Lana reeled back at his appraisal and shielded her face with her arms. Luke's smile fell at that as he understood her sudden reaction. "Ah dang...look, kid I'm…I'm real sorry about how we met the other day. What I did was way harsh." He got down to eye level with her. "So I'm giving you one free hit." He told her pointing at his cheek. "Right across my face. Hard as you can." Lana looked uncertain, but Luke only encouraged her. _"Come ooonn_! Deck my halls, kid. You know you want to." He cooed.

A mischievous, gap toothed, grin formed on the little mechanics face.

"Luke, you don't have to-"

Lincoln words were cut off as his sister's tiny hand met Luke's cheek with an audible smack, and he fell back to the floor in mock pain. "Dang! Momma knows howta throw down!" he said rubbing his cheek. "Watch out for this one, guys," he told his brother's, tussling Lana's hat.

"I get to slap him next." Lucy said raising her hand.

"Dah! What she's means is…" Lincoln said pushing her hand down "...is that we'd all really like to start over. Is that okay?"

Luke nodded, Leon clapped his hands giggling, but Lexx and Lynn remained distant an unresponsive answering in neither the negative or affirmative.

Loki gave a half smile and extended his hand to the boy, shaking it. "Nothing would make us happier."

"You know...short of actually gettin home." Luke told him chuckling.

_Well, three's better than none._

Just then the door opened and Lynn Sr. entered the house disrupting their moment. He turned to enter the kitchen but then stopped as he met their collective but startled gazes. He noticed the pizza boxes and cleaned plates and looked like he wanted to say something.

"Hey dad…", Lincoln greeted. "..how was your day?"

To their disappointment, he gave no response and strolled to his bedroom to check on his wife.

"Just give him time..." Lincoln sighed.

"Now that we're all on more steady ground with you fellows and our greasy high calorie food source has no doubt made its way to our lower intestines, could I persuade you into providing me with some stool samples before you retire?" Lisa asked pulling out five vials.

…...

As Luke was climbing the ladder of the top bunk, he was stopped by the kid that looked just like his little sister. "Hey Luke, you got a minute?"

"Oh snap! Dude, I totally spaced" He said hopping off the ladder. "I'm also sorry about that shiner I gave you" He said feeling guilty. Though he had given Lana a free hit as penance he wasn't in the mood to get slapped by Lincoln as well, who had the potential of actually doing some damage.

"It's okay." He assured him. "And on my sister's behalf I'm sorry about the beat down she gave you."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to say, your sis hits _hard_" he told him feeling his bottom lip and sounding surprised. "But she's just Lynn with different plumbing, so no surprise there right?"

"Right…" Lincoln chuckled awkwardly "...but I wanted to ask you something."

"What's up?" Luke asked straightening his posture.

"You know how Lisa said before the beam sent you in my sister's place that your actions mirrored what my sister's were doing on our side?"

"...yeah?"

"Well...you see before my sister Luna got hit, she told me she had a surprise for me waiting in her room. I was gonna go see her after I was done in Lisa's. So that got me thinking: if your actions were more or less the same as my sister's...were you by any chance waiting to give something to Linka before you got sent over here too?"

Luke's heartbeat increased at that and on instinct, shoved both hands in his pockets, his right one enclosing on the object he kept with him since yesterday.

"Is any of what I'm saying making sense? Cause if it does, then maybe you know what she had waiting for me-"

"Nope. No idea what you're talking about." He quickly told him.

"Oh. Alright, well if you think of anything..."

"Yeah whatever….night'.." He told him turning around and climbing up the ladder.

After Lincoln had left, he just lay on his opposites bunk staring at the ceiling, thinking of his little sister and how much he missed her. Sure he'd spent nights away from home plenty of times in the past, but it had always been planned and...well...on purpose. Missing the chance to give Linka her surprise was just icing on the shit cake that was his life at the moment.

"Hope my room's not _too girly _for ya." Luan said tiredly standing in the doorway. Though they had more or less made their amends, it was obvious that she was upset with the idea of him sleeping in her room.

Sitting up he told her, "Look, I'm not thrilled about this either, but I promise I ain't gonna do anything sketchy in your pad." He told her lying down, "And NOTHING is too girly for me!" He declared sitting back up just as fast.

Luan just raised her eyebrow at that, stifling a laugh.

"O-okay that came out wrong. What I meant was-"

"Yeahyeahyeah, welcome to casa de Loud." She told him slamming the door.

….

As she made her way to her brothers room after being the last one to make it to the bathroom, Lucy was stopped by Loki in the hallway behind her.

"Hey, Lucy?"

"...yes?" She said turning to face him.

He got down to eye level with her. "I just wanted to say if Lynn gives you any trouble while we're here, if any of my bros give you trouble for that matter, you let me know, and I'll lay their asses out." he explained in a matter-of fact tone.

His words gave her pause before she answered and nodded, "I will."

Loki seemed to gather his thoughts in response before he carefully placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "...it's really good to hear your voice, kid."

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing. Just saying, your voice sounds nice. Maybe you could read me some of your poems sometime if you're comfortable enough."

"You'd..._really_ like to hear my poetry?" The only one in her family, hell the only person that ever cared to listen and critique her writing was Lincoln. Not even Lori was willing to sit through a minute of it.

"Yeah! Anything that reminds me of home, ya know?" he told her enthusiastically.

"Uhhh...sure, I'll think about it. Thank you." she responded clearly confused. With that he turned around and made his own way back to Leni's room where he would room with Lexx. Like her sister Luan, Loki had put up the most resistance at taking another room from her sisters, more out of guilt than anything else, but Leni and Lincoln assured them that they were guests and that each did deserve a bed. Was he just being courteous in return, or did Loki legitimately miss the boy version of her? Not sure what to make of it , she continued to the end of the hall and entered Lincoln's bedroom, who was kneeling on his bed setting his alarm.

"Hey Lincoln-"

To her frustration he yelped and fell face first to the floor, somehow still surprised by her entrance.

"Sigh….it's been eight years. You're really going to have to get used to that sometime."

"Believe me, this is one of my good days...whats up Luce?" He mumbled getting up off the floor

"What did you say was the name of the boy version of me again?"

"Hmmm….I think it was...Lars? Yeah that sounds right. Lars."

"Lars…" she repeated, "I see...anyways I wanted to read you my poem. I've been working on it all day and I think I finally found the right words to express my feelings about this whole mess."

He smiled and sat on his bed gesturing her to sit next to him, "I'm all ears." He told her.

She sat down, pulled a piece of paper out of her sweatpant pocket, and cleared her throat.

_Lynn_

_When it comes to roommates_

_I can't seem to win_

_I was placed with this Loud girl_

_Whom_ _everyone_ _calls_ _Lynn_.

_She's_ _quick_ _on her toes_

_But slow with her wit_

_When it comes to competing_

_She'll never call it quits_

_Real or made up_

_She plays every game_

_Her ball throwing at night _

_Was enough to drive me insane_

_She roomed with my brother_

_Just for one night_

_I thought she'd move back_

_When I saw a strange sight_

_She packed all her stuff_

_Told him, "I'm moving in"_

_And for a split second_

_I felt as guilty as sin_

_One turned into two_

_Then two became three_

_Four nights later_

_It was still just me_

_No ball throwing or noogies_

_No tauntings or being called creepy_

_Yet without all of this_

_I could never get sleepy_

_On the 5th day_

_We talked things out_

_It didn't go well at first_

_But we figured it out_

_She missed me_

_Just as I missed her_

_She moved back in_

_And at night I didn't stir_

_All was well_

_Or as well as they could be_

_Until one fateful day_

_When all hell was set free_

_A flashing green light_

_By a scientist with glasses_

_Threw out all thought and logic_

_On its collective asses _(don't tell dad I said that).

"My lips are sealed," he told her stifling a laugh..

_Sent to another world_

_Replaced by a boy_

_The Lynn we have now_

_Is far from a joy_

_He's mean and a bully_

_And has an ugly cleft chin_

_He may look like her_

_But he's not my Lynn_

_My_ _ Lynn is __passionate,_

_Strong but fair_

_This guys so dumb_

_I don't think he breaths air_

Lincoln couldn't help himself, and burst out laughing at the girls mockery.

_Just the smell of his own farts_

_And axe body spray._

_It took my sisters disappearing_

_To make me want to pray_

_For him to get lost_

_And for her safe return_

_I refuse to live with a primate_

_Who wants to watch the world burn_

_So I'll wait and I'll try_

_To get along with this imposter_

_I may be souless_

_But I'm no monster._

_And when she finally gets back_

_It won't just be my win_

_It'll also be hers, my dear sister_

_Lynn_

…...

"Now that was a poem." He told her. "You're absolutely right. It's just a matter of waiting...and I owe you an apology for blowing up on you tonight. I was just really getting frustrated."

"Apology accepted. We immortals have no time to hold grudges in this already bleak existence."

"Daaaaw...that's the most beautiful and disturbing thing I've ever heard you say."

She chuckled at his mock praise. "Thanks."

She turned to look at her brother once more taking on a more serious air.

"Can you please just tell me one thing, though?" Lucy asked.

He nodded.

"Sigh...it's not that I dislike this quality about you. In fact, I'd say it's one of the many reasons I love you. But I just don't get it...how...are you always this understanding?" She asked hands extended. "I see you do it with everyone; mom, dad, our sisters, me. Clyde, Mr. Grouse, Ronnie-Anne, bullies at school...and now with these nimrods. How is that you're so quick to just put all the B.S. aside and look for the connection between other human beings, regardless of who they are?"

That was not the question Lincoln was expecting. Never once had he ever really gave some serious thought to that aspect of his behavior. His first impulse was to just tell her, "I was raised right" but that implied that all of his other siblings behaved the way he did, which obviously was not the case or the heated argument they had that night would have never occurred. Of course it wasn't as if he always felt this way; there were plenty of times in the past where he puts his own needs above others and (as Lucy put it) couldn't set aside the B.S. A big part of it was guilt he realized.

Guilt at the situation he found himself in, and guilt driving him to resolve whatever conflicts he found himself in, in the past. Yet there was also another reason that called out to him and it too made him feel guilty, but for different reasons; it was the idea that maybe just maybe he could have the next few days to really experience what it would be like to have older and younger brothers.

Don't misunderstand, he loved his sisters very much and he knew enough about the boys that he didn't want them here forever. But maybe this was a second chance. A chance to utilize an emotion as powerful as empathy to bring everyone together amidst the discord they all felt.

Not wanting to delve too much into his reasoning, he put one hand around the little goth girls shoulder, and simply told her, "Years of practice."

She considered his words, nodded, and then flashed him a quick smile as she got up off his bed and made her exit. Even as quietly as she took each step back to her sleeping quarters, Lucy completely missed the angry sobs that were coming from the middle of the staircase.

...

**Though I thought the name of the pizza place was just something I pulled out of my butt, it turns out it is a real chain of restraunts. So on that note, I definitely don't own shakeys. It was hard to find the right song for Luke to play and I initially wanted to make it more upbeat but later changed it to something more sobering. Not so fun fact, I actually sang that song at my grandmas funeral. I don't own "Good Riddance (Time of your life)". That song is by Green Day. What are some other songs that you think Luke would play? As for the room change, I initially was going to make it so that every sibling shared a room with their now genderswapped roomate, but got told by my beta readers that that was kinda sketchy so the boys are bunking with the boys and the girls are bunking with the girls, yet sharing the rooms during the day. As always, review, suggest and critique. Next chapter we pay a vistit to dimension XY.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A:N This one took the longest to write because I'm really trying to balance the humor with the tragedy. There's a lot of variables to cover in this and coming chapters regarding Dimension XY and I felt like if I tried to address all of it I would have burned myself out (more than I already have). But let me know how I'm doing. As always I don't own the Loud House. Its owned By Nickelodeon Studios. Review, follow favorite, all that jazz. Oh and this is mostly from Lori's pov but I'll try to do Loni's next time.**

Chapter 9

Strangers

Dimension XY, Friday, June 21st, 2019, 8:47 AM

Waking up surrounded by people she didn't know was not something Lori ever made a habit of, and yet here she was. Opening her eyes, she pushed herself up off the couch into a sitting position and examined her familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings once again. To her surprise, everyone from the previous day had made their bedding around the living room, where they had apparently slept the night. Her sisters were sleeping next to the TV, blankets draped over them, the boys whose names currently escaped her, lay all around the living room in various sleeping positions. Glancing to her right, she saw the girl named Linka slumped in a chair snoring peacefully. A look downward and she saw the girl's hand interlocked with her own, her french tips poking her skin. She didn't even remember falling asleep that night. The last thing she could recall was seeing her mother's name engraved on a wooden box, and the feeling of sorrow overtaking her already fragile state of emotions.

As she processed this hollowness she felt a new feeling begin to overtake her; one of nausea. She quickly pushed herself off the couch, bolted upstairs to the bathroom, not even caring if she woke anyone, and emptied the contents of her stomach into the family toilet. Just when she thought she was done a second wave struck, and she ducked her head back into the bowl, gripping the edges of the rim. She then felt a pair of small hands gently wrap around her hair and pull it back like a makeshift scrunchie, to keep it from sticking to her vomit dripping mouth.

Lifting her head from the bowl, she glanced up and to her right towards the owner. "Ulp...thanks...I needed-" Lori then jumped backward at the form of the little goth boy, and smacked her head on the bathroom tiles. "Ooow...my head…" she whined. She opened her eyes again to look at him. The boy moved his right hand in two quick gestures, his eyebrows raised.

"...what?"

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but instead reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pen and notepad. Scribbling rather quickly he showed her his message scrawled out in rushed clumsy handwriting:

_Are you ok?_

Lori took the pad in her hand, examining it more closely. She looked to the pad and then back to him dumbfounded. "Y-yeah...I'm fine," she lied. "W-what is this? What's with the pen and paper? Can't you talk?" Looking back to the previous night, she remembered that the boy hadn't actually said anything during Linka's big explanation, the majority of the dialog taking place between her sisters and the other boys. He had just been staring at her the whole time. Those weren't gestures he had just made to her, she realized...they were signs. Signs from American Sign Language."Are...are you Deaf?" She asked while signing the question.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. _/No. I'm mute./ _He explained signing back._ /You know ASL?/_

"Yeah, I-I took a couple of semesters in high-school. I mean, I'm not fluent but I know enough for a basic chat." She pushed herself up so she could face him more evenly. Unlike her little sister Lucy, there were no bangs to cover his eyes; an icy blue pair that almost came off as pure white. The visibility of his eyebrows and facial expressions would be essential for the grammar aspect of the language.

Wait...have I ever actually seen Lucy's eyes before?

"Wow...this can literally not get any weirder.." Realizing what she just said was out loud she quickly corrected herself. "N-not that you're weird! This whole situation is weird! I mean I just woke up in another world, my head really hurts, half my family are now guys so I'm kinda freaking out and I just-"

The boy held up his hands in a calming gesture and mouthed to her, _It's okay_.

"Alright...I guess I'm not that fine." She begrudgingly admitted, wiping her mouth with her arm. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

…

Once everyone had awoken some thirty minutes later and were reacquainted with each other, the boys and girls (sans Lori, who still needed to rest a little more and Levi and Lily who were up in his room) set off to make the house substantially cleaner. This included vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, dish washing, really just about any form of cleaning conceivably possible. It was nasty work, but it was necessary if the Loud residence was going to have guests. The house hadn't been given any proper TLC in what appeared to be quite a while. Lynn Sr. had assured the girls that he by no means expected them to do anything resembling chores after the night they had had, but Luna insisted that if they all pitched in it would make the job go faster. Lief was fine voicing his protests as he wasn't particularly happy about any of this.

"See?! This is what happens when you let your house be invaded by girls!" He pouted from the kitchen while mopping the floor.

"Keep up the whining, and my fist is gonna invade your face.." Lynn Jr. muttered to herself as she swept the living room.

Linka stopped mopping long enough to glare at her little brother, who quickly tried to recover from his poor choice of words, explaining that he wasn't in fact referring to his only elder sister. She let it slide, seeing that his comment was probably fueled by the sadness he felt for his missing twin brother...and the fact that he loved anything dirty.

Amidst all this activity, Lori lay on the sofa just looking at everyone and trying to not break down again. She didn't know what was weirder; that these boys seemed remarkably at ease while cleaning for a bunch of strangers or that they did it all despite the knowledge that their own mother was dead.

_Well, her urn said she died last December_, she rationalized._ Maybe they've...moved on by now_?

She did feel a little embarrassed at her reaction to seeing Rita's remains. It wasn't like it was her mother that had perished, yet waking up from a head injury and learning that she was literally sent to a whole different dimension had sent her stress levels through the roof. No, her mother wasn't really dead. But this Rita Loud was, and that idea alone was still one that filled her with anguish...for the boys and for herself. And she did miss her own mother. She missed all of her family.

Every now and then she would catch Lars staring at her from the spot he was cleaning and he would quickly look away every time they made eye contact. Strangely enough, he appeared to be inching his way closer in order to get a better look at her. How had he become mute? Was he born that way or was it something else? A better question she sat on was...how had Rita died? These questions ate away at her, but the fear of having to be the one to ask kept her silent.

An hour had passed until Lynn Sr. finally declared, "Alright...I think that's good for now." He turned off the vacuum and turned to address the girls. "It was definitely overdo, but I think the house is now a semblance of its former glory." Glory was a strong word, considering the fact that something was breaking off from the house's original structure on almost a daily basis. However the boys nodded their heads in agreement, none voicing any of the discomfort that was clearly on their minds. The girls remained quiet as well.

"Right! So…" he trailed off clasping his hands together, "..it looks like we have some things to do. Levi may be working on a way to get you girls back and my sons home, but until then you're gonna need the essentials: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc. Loni, Lane I've got some big jobs for you."

"Yes?" They both asked stepping forward.

"You two are gonna be in charge of the house while I'm gone. I expect you to be on your best behavior and I want you to treat our guests like..." he thought about it for a moment, really trying to get a feel for what would be appropriate…"well…like you would your sister."

"_Aahhhh…_" Linka voiced, one finger extended upward looking unsure.

"Right! Better than your sister!" He corrected himself. "Like...very very distant cousins...or something like that."

"...but...we don't have any have cousins." Loni told him.

"Jesus, I don't know! Just don't treat them like strangers, understand?!"

They both glanced at each other uncertainty on their faces but obeyed their father.

"Yessir." They again answered in unison.

"Excellent." Lynn Sr. leaned forward and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm really counting on you two to make them feel at home. They've been through a lot and they're probably really confu…"

A small finger tapped him on the arm to get his attention, and Lars signed to his father.

"Dah! Breakfast! Of course. I knew I forgot something. Loni can whip you all something up in the kitchen! I'm sure you girls must be famished."

"Uh...yeah I could eat.", Luna answered breaking her gaze away from Lars. "And I ain't a picky eater, so anything ya got-

"Okay, do I really have to be the asshole to address the elephant in the room?" Lynn interrupted putting aside her broom.

Lori sighed audibly, thankful someone finally had the courage to bring it up.

"What elephant? I don't see one." Loni asked looking around.

"Goddamnit Loni…" Lane muttered.

"What's...what's with the…" Lynn moved her hands in unintelligible circles imitating Lars "...sign language? Is that what he's doing?"

_Wait, what?! No, don't ask them that!_ Well, Lori did want to know about that too, but Rita's fate was more important!

"Way to be subtle, Lynn!" Luna berated her.

"Oh, like you're not wondering the exact same thing, _miss high and mighty_!"

"Well, you could just ask him yourself…", Linka told the jock, looking annoyed.

All eyes went to the goth boy and he ducked his head in discomfort at the sudden attention he was getting. Lynn Sr. got down to eye level with Lars and asked, "Do you wanna tell them your story, kiddo?"

His son looked down at that, and after a few moments shook his head in the negative._ /Go ahead./_ he signed

"Well girls…" he said clearing his throat, "my boy Lars has what's called _selective mutism_. Normally, it's an anxiety disorder that makes a person who is able to speak, unable to in certain situations or with certain people. He, however...doesn't use his voice much at all these days. With anyone."

Lori had heard of it before, through what little time she had spent with the Deaf community outside of her own classes, but everyone she'd ever actually chatted with using ASL were either Deaf or hard-of-hearing. She and the girls couldn't help but feel a swell of pity for the boy, evidenced by their body language and demeanor. I mean what was there to say to that?

"But that's perfectly okay!" Lynn quickly told them, "Because he still communicates very openly with us using ASL...and pen and paper, if we're not clear about what he's trying to say."

The little goth boy then hid behind his older brother's legs.

"He's a little shy around new people," Loni explained, "but he'll still talk to you if you have any questions. One of us can like easily interpret for you, or if he's comfortable enough," the teen knelt down next to him and put his hands on the boy's shoulders,_ "if you're comfortable enough, my guy_…he'll write down anything he wants to tell you."

"Soooo….he can hear...but he can't talk…" Lynn asked trying to clarify.

"Yes and no. Lars can hear." Lynn Sr. answered, "Physically, he is able to talk. There's nothing wrong with his vocal cords, but psychologically, he's unable to."

Lynn and Luna just looked at each other for a few moments before nodding in a wordless agreement. Taking the initiative to make all of this feel less surreal than it actually was Luna stepped forward and knelt down to face Lars. "Hey, little dude! My name's Luna. It's nice to meet ya!" she told him hand extended.

Hesitantly, he lifted his hand a little and then gripped it around her calloused fingertips, shaking her hand.

"Lars, huh? Like Lars Ulrich from _Metallica_?"

He nodded his head slowly.

"He's like my favorite drummer!" She beamed, "Do you listen to _Metallica_ too?"

A shy smile crept up his face and he nodded slightly quicker.

_"Metal!"_ Luna exclaimed horned hand pointed in the air. "Bruh...you and I are gonna get along great. Yo girls, come say hi!"

Lynn Jr. slowly walked over to the boy who looked just like her roommate. "Umm...my name's Lynn. But you probably already knew that." She then hocked a loogie into her right palm and extending it out to him. "Put er there, _spooky_."

The boy just looked at her hand and his mouth formed into a grim line.

"Sis….maybe use the hand that ain't covered in your spit?" Luna advised her.

Lars flashed a few signs to her and Loni chuckled in amusement.

"What? What he say?" Lynn asked.

"He said, 'Different Lynn, same grossness'."

_"Well yeah_..." She answered him crossing her arms. "Wouldn't be me if I wasn't…" Her eyes narrowed and she turned to her eldest sister, "..hey Lori, don't you know a little sign language?"

"Yeah, you took it in sophomore year, right? Mrs. Sirianni's class?" Luna asked

"Really?" Lynn Sr. perked up.

All eyes then turned to her still supine form. "Um yeah...I know some. But its been like literally two years since I've practiced." She answered feeling self conscious.

_Damnit Lynn, stop asking the wrong questions!_

"That's great!", Loni told her smiling, "You totes already have something in common! We can help you brush up on it a little."

_Brush up on it a little? How long does he think we're going to stay here?_

"Awesome! We'll start with the essentials ." Lane quickly told the girls. He then moved his hands in a series of movements that only the boys and Lori could vaguely recognize, his face contorting in odd expressions.

"Uh...what's he signing?" Luna asked.

"He's listing every curse word he knows…" Linka told her with half-lidded eyes.

"Lane, not _another_ word!" His father commanded, unamused.

"Sorry, Dad! Please don't _wash my hands out with soap_!" Lane pleaded in a mocking tone.

The boys all groaned at the joke he'd told for what must have been the fiftieth time, but it actually got a small laugh out of Luna and Lynn.

"Okay...that was one was actually pretty good," Luna told him.

Lane smiled from ear to ear at that.

Rolling his eyes Lynn Sr. stood up and grabbed his car keys and wallet. "Okay. So on that note, I'll be off. Linka, would you mind coming with me? I'll need some help picking the right products for the girls."

"Sure dad...um…" she trailed off…"do you think maybe we should bring Lola? I think she could use the distraction."

Sighing he explained, "Kiddo, I don't think she'll want to leave her sister's side…"

"No, I agree with Linka. She needs to get outta the house for a bit. Away from..." she indicated the urn now sitting on the coffee table.

Not since she discovered the Rita Loud of this dimension was deceased had Lola said a word to anyone. Even now she sat on the couch next to Lori's feet, unresponsive to any stimulus around her and staring at nothing. She always championed herself a tough little princess but was evidently taking all of this the hardest. Her demeanor didn't come off as one of sadness, more numbness than anything else. It was a sight that made just about everyone's heartache. Lori was hesitant to let them take her, but if they hadn't decided to do any harm to them before, why would they now?

Lynn Sr. knelt to face her, searching her unfocused eyes. "Lola? Sweetheart? Do you wanna come with me and Linka to the store?"

She remained unresponsive.

"It'll be super fun!" Linka assured her. "We can gab about all the latest gossip! How many people get to say they heard something scandalous from a different dimension? That's like level infinity type of secrets." Her smile dropped and she extended her hand out for her to take. "Please, Lola."

Lola looked up, first to Linka then to Lynn Sr. her facial expression maintaining its numb neutrality. Slowly she took the white-haired girls hand in her own and got off the couch. They walked to the door, Lynn Sr. close behind them.

"We'll be back in a couple of hours. Loni, Lane, you know what to do."

"Hey dad, real quick-" Luna said stepping forward and then faltering. "Er...my bad, that's not right to call you, is it?"

He thought about it for a second considering his own station in regards to how the girls should address him. "No. No, it's perfectly fine, Luna. You can call me whatever you want."

"Ah. Okay. Well, while you're out, you think you could pick up some...," .she leaned in to whisper in his ear, "...materials...for when _Aunt Flow_ comes to visit?"

His eyes widened in understanding and he quickly assured her. "Y-yes! Absolutely! It'll be the first thing on my list so I don't forget. And if you think of anything else that you might need, just gimme a call on Loni's phone."

"...thanks, popstar…" She said with a small smile.

He nodded and with that the three of them left for their trip.

The room was dead quiet once the door had closed, the only discernible sounds were the morning birds through the window frames. The two now eldest boys turned to face their new interdimensional guests.

"Heheheh...uh…" Lane trailed off as he searched for the right words to address his guests. The only thing he could really think to do was address the awkwardness head-on. Hit or miss he figured. "...so...you girls hear the one about the dictionary salesman who had all of his inventory stolen? He was _really at a loss for words._"

Still no one said anything. Yep, definitely a miss.

"Oy...dad left Dumb and Dumber in charge," Lief grumbled.

"Wait, why would he be at a loss for words?" Loni asked now catching the punchline, "I'd have a few choice words to say to the guy who destroyed my career."

Lane's awkward smile fell at his brother's blunt stupidity, "Ahem...ah, would any of you believe me if I told you this guy is still single?" He asked them gesturing to his brother.

"Hey! I'm only single cause I'm running my own business and I don't have time for a relationship! It would be unnecessary."

"...this coming from the guy who puts sunglasses on his head all day without ever actually wearing them…"

"It's a fashion statement!"

"What statement is that?" Lane asked him, _"'I may or my not be hungover later'?"_

Luna and Lynn slowly found themselves in a fit of laughter half of it forced and half because this male version of their sister was….actually kinda funny. Luan made them laugh in her own way, but it seemed Lane's style of comedy was more observational rather than just pun after pun. It added to the humor that his voice sounded cartoonish and high pitched in nature, like _Pinky _from _Pinky and the Brain_ or a younger version of Robin Williams. One side of Lori's mouth perked up a little as well.

_Ice, consider yourself broken,_ Lane thought triumphantly.

"Hey! Girl-Lynn!" Lief suddenly said approaching the young jock. "Is it true you beat up my older brother, Luke?"

The young jock looked down at him and uncrossed her arms ready to put up a fight.

"Yeah...what about it?" She asked in a low tone remembering the moment before she got sent here.

Loni and Lane were desperately waving at him to get him to nip the question in the bud, but it was to no avail. Their dingus little brother was about to up-root any seeds of trust and solidarity that the boys had made with the girls.

"Woah...that is...AWESOME!" He exclaimed.

"Huh?" she asked him clearly confused.

"Seriously! It usually takes me, Lexx and Lars just to get him on his knees! How'd ya do it by yourself?"

Lowering her guard, Lynn leaned against the wall casually examining her fingernails. "Pffft it was nothing. Once the adrenaline hits the senses, the human body is capable of a lot of things. Buuuut my Lucha Libre training certainly helped when I got on his back." She explained unable to resist the temptation to brag.

"_Maaaann_. Boy-Lynn never teaches us any Lucha Libre to take down Luke." The six year old complained "He saves all the best tricks for himself."

"Oh does he now?" Lynn asked, an idea forming in her mind. "Well, it looks like I've got some time to kill. Whaddya say you and me set up a little arena in the yard and I'll show ya all the best moves to put him outta commission when he gets back?"

"Oh heck yeah!" Lief exclaimed sprinting to the kitchen which led to the backyard.

Luna put a hand on her sister's chest blocking her way to the backdoor.

"Lynn...if you're planning to do what I think you're planning to do..._don't._"

"Relax. I'm only gonna teach the lil' ankle biter some technique. Harmless rough-housin', that's all. It'll be like when I babysit for the Fox quins."

Luna looked her in the eyes and though she didn't fully trust her after last night's events, her assurance sounded sincere.

"Come on girl-Lynn! Yards this way!" Lief told her sticking his head out of the kitchen door frame.

"How bout' we stick with just _Lynn_? It's unisex for a reason ya know..."

"Ah...nothing like the promise of violence to bring people together." The young comedian pointed out as they left the room. He then approached the young rocker. "Hi! The name's Loud. Lane Loud. Say, this gonna sound crazy, but you look a lot like this guy I know...but I can't put my finger on it.." he told her one hand on his chin and clicking his tongue.

"Heh….I was about to say the same to you about this one girl I know..."

"Pleased to meet ya!" he told her cheerfully

She was about to grab his extended hand when she quickly pulled it away.

"Yoik! Nice try, chuckles. I've roomed with my sister Luan for years and I can see a prank coming from a mile away."

"P-perish the thought!" He sputtered pretending to be offended. "I may be the king of pranks but I do have _some_ standards."

"Really?" She asked, one eyebrow raised "So if I shake your hand, I'm not gonna get zapped by a jolly buzzer?"

Indeed she called his bluff and he slipped the small metal tool of his middle finger and put it in his shorts pocket. "Hmm.. not slow on the uptake at all, are ya? Impressive. You do realize of course that this means war?" He demanded imitating the cartoon duck.

Bring it on, _Daffy_!", She told him playfully. Luna then turned on her booted heel and marched up the stairs.

"Where ya goin'?"

"Thought I'd check out your roomie's pad...maybe trigger the pale of water that just _happens_ to be resting on the top of the door."

Oh, this was too perfect. Lane turned to his older brother giving him two thumbs up before following the young rocker up the stairs leaving the living room with just Lori, Loni and Lars.

"I'll get breakfast going and fry some eggs for everyone! I'll let you know when they're ready." He called up. "Lori uh...you just lie back, I totes got this!"

"N-no I can help." She told him standing up on wobbly legs and adjusting the bandage around her skull. "I...I can help. Really." Mom and dad had left her in charge of her siblings since they left for the store yesterday and as far she was concerned she still was.

"...are you sure you're up for it?" He asked getting ready to catch her if she fell again.

Part of her did doubt herself, but one thing she could never stand was the feeling of being useless. "Uh-huh. I'm sure. I'm the oldest and I wanna cook for my sisters."

"Okay." He acquiesced nodding. "Oh! Lars, do you wanna help us out too?"

The goth boy nodded his head vigorously.

…..

The smell of the cooking eggs and the chemical floor cleaner did absolutely nothing to help Lori's persistent nausea. As she stood next to the young man who looked just like her little sister she tried to take her mind off of everything by cracking eggs on the cast iron skillet in front of her. Lars made himself useful by chopping vegetables not three feet away. Safety hazard or not the little boy still couldn't keep his eyes off of her. His staring did not go unnoticed by Loni and he waved his hand to get his little brother's attention.

_/Lars, I know she's pretty, but it's impolite to stare, so knock it off./_

The little goth boy's face flushed red and he quickly returned to his work, though Lori wasn't quite sure what Loni told him because he wasn't facing her.

"How do you like your eggs?" He suddenly asked her.

Eggs. His brother's were missing, they're were five strangers in his house, there was no indicated time frame when any of them would return to their respective dimensions...and he was asking her how she liked her eggs.

"Uh...hard-boiled…"

"Hey that's how Loki eats his! Btw, how's your head doing?" He suddenly asked.

She touched her bandaged skull with one hand. It still felt like someone had well..._hit her in the head with a 2x4_. There wasn't really any other way to describe it.

"...it's okay...not as bad as last night…"

"Boy, yesterday was crazy, huh?"

_Heart-breaking, traumatic...but sure, let's go with "crazy"_. "Um...yes, it was…" she finally answered.

They continued to fry the eggs, an uncomfortable silence hanging between them for a few moments, until Loni rested his spatula in the pan and turned to face her.

"I-I know we had kind of shaky start when we first met, but again, I hope you know none of us are dangerous or anything." He told her with a sincere yet sheepish smile. "And I'm sorry if I made you feel that way."

"No it's..._we're oka_y...I'm sorry for locking you in your brother's room."

"That was you? Huh, I thought the door knob was just busted. Well it was always busted, but whatevs! Lief is totes gonna be happy to fix Levi and Linka's door. He fixes everything."

She chuckled slightly at the thought of her mechanic sister Lana. "He sounds like someone I know."

"Speaking of which what's your other sister's names? Oh! What's my name?"

"Leni…"she whispered, as images of her best friend and roommate flooded her mind. God, how was she handling all of this? How were any of her family dealing with the people on their side? Did Bobby even know she was gone, yet?

"Leni...that's beautiful. Hey, is she a dress or a skirt kind of girl? Cause if I was a girl I would wear a dress like it was nobody's business!"

It was a sweet if slightly peculiar thing to hear him say that, but this was the boy version of her sister after all. "She...actually does tend to wear dresses. Sea-foam green's really her color."

"Called it! And I'm telling ya, that tank top with those shorts on you are an absolute win! On Loki it's...blehh…"

Lori had heard his compliment but her swimming vision and pounding headache distracted her from acknowledging it. She knew what was coming but she couldn't stop it.

"Who else is in your fam- Lori? Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?" He asked with worry in his voice.

"L-leni..." she choked out as her body went limp and she started to fall backwards.

"Woahwoahwoahwoah!" He jumped behind her and broke her fall by clutching her shoulder and lower back. Her breathing was once again ragged and her eyes were half lidded, the energy to keep them open quickly fleeting. This girl was in no shape to do anything for anyone. "Alright hangon, sis! I'm-I'm gonna take you upstairs to see Levi! He'll know what to do!"

"...I'm...I'm fine…"

"You're _not_ fine, Lori! Even I can see that!" He said unable to keep the panic from his voice "Lars! Get Lane and Lu...wait was it Luna or Lupa? N-nevermind! Just get them down here, and have them takeover breakfast, okay?!"

….

"...pupils equal and reactive", the young scientist noted, shining a small flashlight into Lori's eyes. The light-headed teen sat on Levi's bed, Loni sitting next to her. A blanket was draped around her shoulders and a blood pressure gage was wrapped around her right arm. Lily slept peacefully in Leon's crib, blissfully ignorant to everything around her. Levi got off his stool and jotted down more notes, "….reflexes are normal...no fever, so we can rule out any kind of infection...blood pressure however is extremely hypotensive. When was the last time you consumed any nutrients?" He asked looking up from his clipboard.

"...yesterday at lunch. But I puked it up this morning..." she answered, her voice still heavy with fatigue.

"Ah. Low-blood sugar. Excuse me while I fetch you a protein bar from Lynn's sleeping quarters." He told them exiting the room.

Once he left, Loni voiced his worry for her, "You puked?! When? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I-I had just woken up!" She snapped at him tears forming in her eyes. "There was so much going on I...I.." unable to finish her sentence, she let the tears slide down her cheeks. Her injury, her disappearance, the boys and the fact that she still didn't know the details of Rita Loud's demise all weighed down on her to the point of breaking. "I...I had just woken…" she repeated, the sorrow Lori felt intensifying at the words she heard herself say. Inhaling sharply, she proceeded to bat at her face with both hands, commanding herself to be released from this nightmare. "_Wake up...Wake up..wake up! Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!_" She shouted, voice cracking, and palms smacking against her skin.

The young man's heart ripped in two at the sight of her distraught form, and he threw her arms around her, in part to trap her hands so she could no longer hit herself, another because something deep inside him told him he had to. The energy to continue her self abuse was gone, and she melted into his arms and wept at full force, no longer caring who it was that held her.

"...why can't I wake up?" she whispered. "...why is this happening?"

"Ya know...I asked myself that question a lot...after my mom died. " he told her quietly " I'm pretty sure I asked myself that question a million times last night too, when I found out my brothers were gone..."

He felt her start to stroke her hair as he explained, "And over time I've learned that like...even if we do know why something bad has happened...it's still okay to cry about it…"

At the wisdom he just imparted to her, she looked up at Loni's face and saw tears streaming down his cheeks as well. "You're not alone, Lori. We're all here for you."

Like she had done with Linka the night before, the older girl looked into Loni's eyes and saw many things. The same love that he would show any of his siblings, the same compassion that her little sister Leni freely gave to anyone who needed it, and the same pain of unequivocal loss. Lori felt a warmness envelope her at his gentle words and rested her head against his chest letting out any sorrow she still had left in her. He just slowly rocked her back and forth like he would any of his siblings that needed to be held. There was no awkwardness between them this time. No second thought for either at holding or being held by someone they hardly knew. A look into those blue eyes of his made her feel like they'd know each other all their lives.

"God...I'm a freaking mess." she whispered.

"Yeah. We both are." He sniffed. "But that's okay."

Fuck it. They were already this torn up, what more harm could asking do at this point? "...how did she die?" She asked hands on his shoulders. "I need to know...how did your mom die?"

"Oh...right! I guess you still don't know..." .Loni broke the hug but still kept one arm draped over her. As it turned out Lori was the only interdimensional guest that wasn't informed of the details of Rita Loud's death due to not being conscious long enough to hear it. She had winked out shortly after being placed back on the sofa last night. Lynn Sr. had ordered everyone takeout, which is why food wasn't a top priority for everyone either and why no one else had asked about Rita. Her sisters already knew. "Car accident…" he answered simply.

"...oh…"

Levi then got her attention by clearing his throat, having walked back in the room as silent as a ninja. "May I?" He asked holding up a roll of gauze, indicating he wished to change her bandage. While carefully unwrapping and cleaning her bruised forehead with an alcohol swab he gave his own thoughts of everything he just bore witness to.

"If it is any consolation, her passing was quick and painless. The automobile that collided with vanzilla's exterior snapped her cervical vertebrae upon impact, rendering unconsciousness almost immediately." Though he discussed his own mother's death so openly his face remained deadpan of any emotion and she couldn't tell if she was more bothered by that or less. "In layman's term...one second she was awake, the next second she was not."

"I'm a little confused though…" Loni asked her, "why were you so upset about that last night? Like..._your_ mom is fine, you know that right?"

"Well...I.." Lori searched for the right words to express her reasoning but was far too out of it.

"It's psychology." Levi told him shrugging. "Unless you have a deep seated hatred for your maternal figure, the image of your mother's remains (or in this case someone completely identical) is susceptible to trigger an emotional reaction out of just about anyone. Couple it with the fact that at the time she didn't know who any of us were or what we were doing here."

"Yeah...what _he_ said…" Lori confirmed looking down. Just like her little sister Lisa, this boy wasn't very expressive in his own emotions, but to say he didn't understand them would be an enormous fallacy.

Once Levi gave her a protein bar, which she scarfed down in seconds, he went back to his desk to sort through some of the tools that lay on it.

"I'm- I'm really worried about Lola." Lori asked putting aside her own emotions. "W-whats wrong with her?"

"Mmm. Yes from what I saw of her this morning, your sister is not coping well with her new surroundings by any means. The lack of responses or visible emotion is most likely due to her conscious mind blocking out external stimuli in the hopes of protecting itself from further emotional trauma."

"In English, you little dork!" Loni snapped only recognizing a few of those words.

"She's in shock." Levi simplified without facing them. "Interestingly enough...it's not very different from how Lars reacted to our mother's passing."

Pulled out her thoughts Lori considered the implications of such a statement "That's...that's why he signs? That's why he's…"

"...mute?" Loni finished for her, sighing. "Yeah. It changed him. I mean it changed all of us, but he was affected the most. He hasn't said a word in seven months."

"Though our brother's circumstances were far more up close and personal compared to Lola's." Levi clarified.

Tears welled up in the Loni's eyes as Lori stared at him expecting a follow up to that claim. "...he was in the van with mom when it happened..", he told her, "..Lars saw her die…"

...

***grabs megaphone* *holds down button* "CRITIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIQUE!"**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I've been in quite the writing slump lately. Really just not feeling very confident in my own writing, especially when I read other people's masterpieces. So as of today I've given myself permission to just write regardless of how I feel about it. People seem to like this story so I'll finish it. Thanks for your support and being patient and yea...please critique. I could make this a two parter and show what these two did on their trip, or I could just cut to right after when they get back to the house. Let me know what you'd like to see. I don't own the Loud House. **

Chapter 10

The Tale of the Two Captains

Dimension XY, Friday, June 21st, 2019, 1:05 PM

To Lori's relief, Levi did have a plan to get everyone back to their respective dimensions. The science to interdimensional travel was there, he explained, it was just his own skepticism that kept him from seeing it at first. Extensive formula and algorithms were etched out on his blackboard directing his every movement to the machine he was currently building. If all went according to plan then they should be back in their Royal Woods by next Monday. He'd assured Lori that as long as she took it easy, maintained a healthy calorie intake, and took some ibuprofen that she would be at 100% in no time.

As for Lola, Levi's prognosis for her was not as definitive; he thought it unlikely that she would remain silent forever, but that only time would tell if she would snap out of her near-catatonic state.

"Just be there for her if and when she is ready to open up." Levi instructed her, "Assure her that everything will return to normal. Because, one way or another, it will."

…

Eating was no problem for Lori. After not only devouring second helpings of the eggs and bacon she was served by Luna and Lane, she had the most maddening craving for Ice-cream. When offered, she attacked the gallon of Cookies N' Cream they normally kept in the freezer for dessert. Neither herself nor any of her other siblings had seen her that hungry before or that unconcerned with table manners. It was convenient for Lars because now he wasn't the only one staring at her.

The meal and the shower she took afterward did wonders for her mood, not enough to make feel _completely_ okay with the idea of staying with a bunch of strangers for 3 ½ days, but enough so that she no longer felt like a puke and tear covered mess. While the hot water from the slightly moldy shower head poured onto her slowly recovering dome, two thoughts occupied her headspace: the first was that...her breasts felt slightly bigger than before. And it might have just been the ice cream, but her waistline was a tad too-

The door opened and she saw through the slit of the shower curtain, Lief walking into the bathroom. Lori yelped, covered herself with her arms and made sure the curtain was closed all the way.

"OCCUPIED!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" He quickly told her making his exit and shutting the door.

"LEARN TO KNOCK!" She called through space, hoping he hadn't seen anything.

"_LEARN TO LOCK THE DOOR!"_, he called back.

…

Stepping out of the bathroom, she saw Loni sitting against his bedroom door looking lost in thought. "Feeling better?" he asked standing up to face her. She had a towel wrapped around her head and was now wearing his deceased mother's bathrobe, as she felt putting her day-old clothes back on would have defeated the purpose of bathing, entirely. It was a little big for her especially around the shoulders but it was all they currently had in terms of female clothing, apart from Linka's, whom clothes would never fit.

"I'm getting there...but we're gonna have to get some clothes for me and my sisters. I can't just walk around in a bathrobe for the next three days"

"Say no more! I'm way ahead of ya! Step into my workshop!" He assured her indicating the door to his left.

His "workshop" was just his half of the bedroom he shared with his older brother Loki. Stacks of boxes filled to the brim with crafting materials, plastic weapons, and cloth, lined the east wall, blocking the sunlight through the window. A sewing machine and a fold-out table sat at the foot of his bed. As Loni dug through his closet for whatever he had prepared for his new guests, Lori drifted to one of the many colorful costumes he had hanging from a rack in between the two beds. The one that drew the most attention was a mostly blue, three-piece bodysuit with red shoulder and wrist padding, an eight-pointed star sewed perfectly in the middle of the chest. Though she had no interest in anything superhero related, except for that one time her little brother featured her in his self published Ace Savvy Comic, she couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship and detail that went into making this.

"...so it took me a little while, but I think I got the sizing right for you and your sisters. They're not much, but they'll…"

The young entrepreneur caught her staring at the costume he had worked tirelessly on for three weeks straight and set aside the clothes he made for her and her sisters last night.

"...looks epic, doesn't it?" He asked stepping next to her crossing his arms in satisfaction.

"This is…cool…" she told him feeling the smooth leather in one hand, "...you made this?"

"Uh-huh! I made it for a customer all the way in Los Angeles. Me and her are _big _Captain Marvel fans and there's no way I could say no to making this baby."

"_Captain Marvel_...that's the name of the superhero movie that came out this year, right? You guys have Marvel in this dimension too?"

"You betcha! Good to know we're not the only ones." His smile faded as an idea took shape in his mind. "...do you wanna try it on?!" ,he asked excitedly.

"What? Me?! No, _noooo_, I am not a cosplayer. Let alone a comic book fan."

"Ah! I can see it in your eyes!" He told her pointing his finger at her, "You totally want to try it on. It's calling to you, like the ring of power."

She squinted at him trying to understand what that meant.

"King of the Rings reference..but for reals, I think you would look _so_ good in it, and I still haven't found someone to model it for me."

"I...I don't know..."

"...do you _really_ have anything better to do?", he asked her with raised eyebrows.

He did have her there, seeing as there wasn't exactly an itinerary for the rest of her weekend. Plus, she was a little curious to see how good she would look in it.

"...alright...I'll try the stupid thing on…."

"Yes!" He exclaimed pumping his fist into the air. "This is gonna be awesome!"

….

Seven minutes later, Lori gave him the okay to come back into the room and admire his handiwork. It was a little tight on her, especially around the stomach, but not to the point where it reduced her mobility or made it feel like she was trapped. She stood in front of the closet mirror examining herself. Her feet shifted in the red boots she now stood in, her hands gripping the red belt. God, if Lincoln was here he'd be having one of his over the top nerd-gasms.

"So….do I look like Captain Marvel?" She asked turning to face him.

"Lori...as far as I can tell…" he answered her, stepping forward with a serious expression. He placed both hands on her shoulders, and his face turned giddy with excitement, "...you ARE Captain Marvel! But a better question is...how do _you_ _feel_?"

"I feel…" she looked down at herself, …. "I feel…"

"Super? Powerful? _Marvelous_?!"

"...stupid." She answered flatly.

"Awwww what?! Why?!"

"It's not that it's a bad costume!" She explained, "It's great, but I don't even know who this character is or what her powers are…"

Loni appeared visibly shaken by that comment.

"...are you telling me that not only have you not _read_ any Captain Marvel you haven't _seen_ it either?"

"No." she scoffed.

"Oh, this cannot stand." He then snatched his wallet and phone which sat on his dresser. "Come with me! It's still playing at the Royal Woods theatre! You don't even have to change!"

"Dressed in this?!"

"Why not? Please! I swear you're gonna love this movie and once we get back, I'll do anything you ask me to do!"

"...anything?"

"Anything!"

_There's a broad area with a condition like _anything, she thought. He may be a huge goofy, nerd, but it appeared he spoke the language of bargaining as well as anyone.

She sighed. "Okay, you've got yourself a deal. But I would feel more comfortable if I wasn't the only one dressed like a-"

In one quick motion, Loni Gripped the sides of his teal sweater, ripped it over his head, then stripped out of his jeans to reveal a Red, White, and Blue uniform that looked too thick and rough to be made out of spandex. This had a silver five-pointed star embroidered in the middle of it. He then slipped on two navy blue fingerless gloves and clipped on a blue cowl with a white "A" above the eyeholes.

"READY!"

"Were you wearing that this whole time?!", she demanded.

"NOT important!", he told her shaking his head and grinning from ear to ear. With what must have been a practiced maneuver, he then stepped on a circular metallic object, that _wasn't_ at his foot a moment ago, bounced it into the air and caught it with one hand. It was a shield with the same American color scheme and a star logo in the center.

"LET'S GO!"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: In memory of Stan Lee, 1922-2018 and Alec Guinness 1914-2000. I don't own Loud House or any of the below referenced movies. Minor spoilers for Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame. So I was gonna post this once the cover art was finished, but that might be awhile so I'm posting it now.**

The Tale of the Two Captains: Part Two

Loni Loud was on a mission. A mission of the utmost importance and one that he would not fail. He was an Avenger now, and it was his job to make sure that Lori felt comfortable with her new surroundings. The temptation to take her straight to see _Avengers: Endgame_ was there, but he knew she wouldn't be able to handle the feels trip it would take her on if they did watch it. He certainly hadn't. And the whole point of this was to take her mind off of everything that was happening so that she wouldn't cry, which tore him to pieces both times he bore witness to it. No one as nice or caring as she should ever feel that sad again, he decided.

When it came to introducing someone to something as epic as the MCU, starting with _Captain Marvel_ was not the worst jump off point. Filling her in about everything he knew about her character became his top priority in the car ride over, and she was so overcome with fascination that she even groaned with her head in her hands! He didn't blame her. Realizing she'd been so out of touch with something this epic would have made him feel ashamed as well. He left out the fact that Lori's character's past outfits in comic continuity were more risque and a hard act to follow for a lot of female comic book fans.

"...was leaving Lane by himself a good idea?" she suddenly asked.

"Oh, he'll be fine! Dad leaves him with my sibs all the time, since he's usually in the house most of the day."

Upon exiting the Lyft he had ordered to take them to the theater, the Captains took in the sight of the enormous line of people that stretched from the front entrance of the red bricked theater, to around the back. One week post release of _Avengers: Endgame_ and it still brought droves of moviegoers.

Making their way to the back of the line, they're presence did not go unnoticed by the various men, women, and children they passed along the way. Some pointed, others "oohed" or "ahhed", and a few took out their phones to snap pictures of them. Loni was the epitome of pride as he strolled confidently to the end, whereas Lori looked less than comfortable. Eh...it was probably just the heat.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look! It's Captain Marvel and Captain America!" a little boy with a striped shirt cried out jumping up and down on the sidewalk.

"Could my kids have a picture with you two?" The mother asked hopefully.

"Heck yeah, they can! They wanna take a picture with us!" He told Lori.

"Um… okay…"

Both Captains got on either side of the excited Marvel fans, Loni on one knee and holding his shield in hand like a trophy. Lori kept her arms at her sides, wearing a half smile. This process repeated itself a few more times, fans of the armored captains coming up and requesting pictures. And who wouldn't? They looked great! His favorite part about these kind of interactions were when they asked him where he got the outfits and he got to tell them he made it himself. The reactions tended to be mixed, some mouths dropping or others just waving their hand at him dismissively. He was about to go into a long explanation of how it was done, when he noticed a few people in the line ahead of him pointing and snickering. Maybe they were fans too?

"L-Loni? I'm really not comfortable doing this anymore...", Lori told him looking down.

"But we haven't seen the movie yet!" he protested.

"I know, but... they're…" she indicated to the same group of teens he spotted earlier.

"Yeah… if that's Captain America, I'm Black Panther… guy looks like a string bean", One of them drawled.

"Right? And that girl's hair isn't the right style for Marvel. It's too wavy."

Ah. So they weren't true fans. They were gatekeepers. Bullies. If there was one thing that Captain America hated more than anything, it was bullies, no matter where they came from or why they did it. Damnit, he had enough pressure to be a good host as it was without the added negativity. They wanted Captain America? Okay… he was gonna give it to them.

"Hey Lori, see that can sitting on top of that mailbox?" He asked pointing across the street. "Betcha I can knock it down with my shield."

"It's literally 25 feet away. You're gonna mess it up if you-"

Loni heard her protests but he was too focused on the mission at hand. He reeled his arm back in a pitcher's like pose, took a deep breath and threw the frisbee like weapon with all his might. The metallic disc spun straight and horizontal, never peeling off from its trajectory. It knocked the can of cola off the mailbox, the disc clanging against the wall behind it and falling to the sidewalk. The snickering stopped and all eyes were on the two cosplayers. On reflex he pressed the button sewn into the fabric of his uniform and turned to Lori. He felt like he was supposed to do something important next but he couldn't remember what it was for the life of him… oh yeah!

"WOOO! Go Rogers! Go Rogers! Do the butt shake! Do the butt shake!", Loni chanted swishing his hips and yanking his arms up and down like an automaton.

There was never an inappropriate time for a bootyshake in Loni Loud's world. Since this was America's ass, he gave it a little extra "oompf". That throw was near perfect and if S.H.I.E.L.D had seen that display of epicness, they would have had him on as the next-

"Loni! LONI! THE SHIELD!" Lori shouted trying to get his attention.

"I know! It's awesome, isn't it? Levi made it for me, and it works just like the-"

"Nononono _the shield_! It's coming back!"

"Huh?" He glanced sideways and sure enough the metallic shield was tumbling through the air, back towards him at alarming speed.

"Oh _yeeeeah_… that's what that button doe-"

His dim observation was cut off as Lori tackled him to the pavement of the sidewalk. The shield continued its course, and clanged against the brick mortar of the theater's wall, right where Loni's head was a moment ago. It clattered to the ground, and then drifted its way to Loni's right arm and stuck to the vambrace with a *click*.

"For future reference I need to know; how stupid are you?!", Lori demanded her face inches from his and still on top of him.

"Loki told me that that's something that can't be 'quantified'. I don't know what that word means but he sounded pretty serious. Hey Lief was right! You DO smell like Loki!"

…..

"… but Vibranium isn't a real metal!" Lori told Loni as they found their seats in the semi-crowded theater. They opted for chairs in the middle row, neither of them understanding how anyone could be comfortable sitting in the front directly under the screen. Waaay to much strain on the neck. "Or… wait… is it? This is a different dimension, so I probably can't rule that out…"

"Sadly, you're right about that. Reality is often disappointing. But that didn't stop Levi from making this bad boy for me!" He told her, removing his cowl and patting his shield. "Electromagnets built right into the vambrace for a quick return. He says it's made of titanium, which is technically bulletproof. When we get a chance, we're gonna head to the shooting range and give it a proper test run!"

Lori's blood went cold. She was now left wondering how Loni hadn't gotten himself killed years ago and if saving him from literal decapitation was something Loki had to do on a daily basis. Leni had her own shortcomings in the brains department, but she seldom ever gave Lori the impression that she would hurt herself the second she walked out the door. She could list every reason why what he just said was the dumbest idea she'd ever heard of. Instead she bit her tongue and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "If Levi says it's bulletproof… _pleeeasse_… take his word for it… and don't let anyone shoot at you."

He appeared to go over her plead for a brief second before turning to look at her with renewed cheer. "OKAY!"

She sighed with relief and sunk deeper into the red cushion of her chair. "Wow… if Lisa built everything Lincoln asked her to make, his room would be an armory." She said, shaking her head. There were several things Lori had to say to her when she got back, each one more confrontational than the last. How could she be so irresponsible? If the multiverse was as infinite as Levi claimed it to be than it was a miracle they weren't sent to a dimension far more hostile or God forbid, dystopian. _She is soooo making me a titanium golf club when I get back_… "That was nice of him to make though," she muttered letting it go for now. "You just asked and he agreed?"

His face turned more solemn as he held the shield tighter to his chest. "Actually, he made it for me after my mom passed. As a gift."

"Oh… shit… I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories…"

"It's not a taboo," he told her simply, "It's been seven months. I'm totes okay to talk about it now. Especially with my cousin."

_Cousin?_

She was about to give an answer to that when the theater lights started to dim.

"Ohhhh it's starting!" He said bouncing with excitement.

She put it aside for later and leaned back in her chair, her expectations for the flick she was about to watch at no particular level of elevation. The trailers for Captain Marvel looked… okay. Lori hardly watched any superhero movies growing up, the ones she could remember seeing were with her boyfriend or when she was stuck babysitting one of her siblings. The movie took an odd approach at introducing the character, showcasing the Captain's status as a soldier of the Kree rather than jumping right into her origin story.

Loni was a bit nervous that this wouldn't go the way he was hoping and she would want to leave the theatre again. He'd seen it twice already, undeterred by any of the complaints so called "fans" voiced about it. People really needed to learn to separate an artist's work from their personal beliefs. But as the Superheroine made her entrance to Earth and Lori leaned forward in her chair after every scene transition, his worries started to evaporate. His favorite scenes came and went, but he wasn't watching any of them. He was too busy gauging the reaction of the now grinning intergalactic Half-Kree Half-Human sitting to his left. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open, and the laughter that escaped Lori's throat at the scenes with Nick Fury and Goose were music to his ears. The MCU just got one more fan. And her name was Lori Loud.

…...

"Whadya think?" Loni asked stepping out into the lobby 2 ½ hours later. The moviegoers of two other auditoriums were filing out into the red carpeted lobby, filling up the space in a matter of seconds.

"That. Was literally. Amazing!" She gushed.

"I know, right?!"

"That part where she's up against her mentor and she's all like, 'I don't have to prove anything to you!' and she zapped him with one of her hand beam thingies?"

"Photonic blasts?"

"Photonic blasts! And I almost cried when the green guy got reunited with his family!"

"The Skrulls?"

"Skrulls, whatever. And she was holding back her true power level the whole time! One hand tied behind her back!", she said shooting her fists in the air. Loni just leaned against the wall, wearing a smug smile.

"Erm… yeah it was… it was alright…", she said, now regaining her composure. "Huh… so that's what it's like to nerd-gasm…"

Captain America threw his head back in laughter, a feeling of triumph overtaking him.

He quickly opened his arms, and with a strength she didn't know he had, gripped Captain Marvel in a bone-crushing, bear-hug and spun her in circles. She tried to protest but it was drowned out by an unusual victory cry.

"EXCELSIOOOOOR!"

"Loni. LONI! Put me down! I can't… breath!" she rasped.

Snapped out of his bout of excitement he set her down gently. "Sorry, I'm just like super happy you're happy right now!"

"Hey everyone, check it out!" A teen from the lobby shouted. "It's the Avengers! Can I get a quick pic?" he asked, approaching them.

"Me too!"

"I'm next!", more people started to shout.

Slowly a crowd formed around the two Captains, pulling out their smartphones and smiling with anticipation at the prospect of a photo op. This time Lori felt a wave of pride wash over her, a better understanding of the character and why she was so popular starting to cement itself. She felt strong. She felt powerful. She felt… Marvelous.

"Ready for round two?", Marvel asked America, one eyebrow cocked.

He snapped his cowl back on, reached for the shield slung over his shoulder, and met her newfound enthusiasm with his own. "I could do this all day."

….

"All day" lasted only about fifteen more minutes, but with every picture she was snapped in, grew the power she felt rise up from her core. Loni had went to use the restroom so she held his shield for him putting it down only to give a fan another quick pic. God help her, she was having fun. The idea crossed her mind that Lisa's accident might have been one of the funnest, if weirdest things, that ever happened to her. Maybe this didn't have to be a weekend of tragedy and time lost back at home. With what time she had left here, perhaps she could-

"Can I have a picture too?" a deep voice asked from behind her.

"Sure", Lori said turning to face the source of the voice, "would hate to leave anyone ou-"

She felt her breath leave her lungs as she took in the features of the young man before her. He was a tall, around her own age, blonde, had the same hairstyle as Loni but more facial hair on his chin. He wore a green and yellow polo shirt in a zigzag pattern, brown khakis and gray adidas running shoes. It shouldn't have surprised Lori anymore to run into someone in this dimension that looked like someone from her own social circles, but she hadn't been counting on how down right… stunning, the boy version of Carol Pingrey looked. Unlike Carol, his dimples were deep and his voice was even deeper. She could see the fabric of his shirt stretch outward from a very visible athletic build.

Dangit! The boy version of her is hot too?!

"I love your outfit, and I had to…", he trailed off as he took in her features. "Loki?"

"No… uhh… Captain Marvel actually." She told him rubbing the back of her head. "Loki's the long haired British guy… I think."

"Oh… sorry," he said, unable to keep himself from staring, "I thought you were someone else for a sec."

"Been getting that a lot lately."

"Anyways uhh… my name's Carl." He extended his hand and smiled.

"Lori." she said accepting it, hesitantly.

They're curious staring contest lasted about ten more seconds before Carl reminded himself of the real reason why he approached her to begin with. "I saw you with the dude cosplaying as Captain America. Are you two friends by any chance?"

"Fooorr… _God, what the hell are we_... lack of a better word. Yes we are."

"Awesome! Do you think…", he said reaching for an envelope in his back pocket, "you could do me a huge solid and give him this?"

She took the envelope in her gloved hand and examined it front to back. On the front was the unmistakable Pingrey seal that held both folds of the paper together, and on the back was one word written in the neat black calligraphy. It simply read: Sorry.

"Uhh… sure, but why not just hand it to him in person? Aren't you two friends?"

His expression turned hopeful. "... he's talked about me?" A look of regret touched his features and he looked down. "We haven't been on the best of terms, lately. I've been trying to get a hold of him-"

"Whew! Thanks for holding my shield for me!" Loni said coming out of the restroom. "Being a superhero is thirsty wor-"

As the Captain approached the newcomer, Lori saw Loni's face break it's normally happy go lucky features and shift into one of pure malice. The shift was quick, almost instantaneous, and she couldn't remember seeing Leni put on a face quite so… angry.

"What do you want Pingrey?" Loni huffed, taking his shield form Lori. He held it like he might use it for more than just knocking down cola cans.

Carl grimaced. "Okay… last name basis? I don't think I deserve that."

"Is this guy bothering you, Lori?" Loni asked her, his contempt filled eyes locked on to the boy in front of him.

"No. He just came up to say 'hi'."

"Well, he's bothering me, so I think that's our cue to leave." Loni told her, side stepping her and heading for the tinted glass door's exit.

"Waitwaitwait! Dude! Can you and me please… please… just talk?" Carl begged getting in front of him.

"Why should I?"

The argument they broke into was odd. Back home, Leni and Carol were friends .Not particularly close, but friends, as far as she knew. They would get into fights every now and again, but it wasn't over something serious. These two bickered like they were an old married couple. Frequently Carl would catch himself getting off topic and would try to bring them back to the point, yet Loni was quick to shut him down. Whatever Carl had to say, Loni didn't want to hear any of it. It was concerning to Lori, because this guy seemed nice and she was genuinely curious as to what Carl had to apologize for. Loni wasn't budging so Lori stepped in between them.

"Hey Carl, would you excuse us for one moment? Us Captain's need to have a quick chat."

He nodded, and she pulled him by the arm about 10 ft away so she could get to the bottom of whatever tiff it was they we're having.

"Seriously, what's up with you two? Why are you being so hostile towards him?"

"That guy is bad news, Lori. He's caused me and my brother a lot of pain and I don't know what his angle is, but he's up to something! I mean did you see his shirt?"

"Uh… yeah? It's a little ugly, but what does that have to do with it?"

"Heeellloo!" He jeered flailing his arms. "It's the color scheme for Hydra! That alone is a good reason not to talk with him."

Lori pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "Okay… let's just pretend for a sec that we're not superheroes. What did Carl Pingrey do to Loni and Loki Loud that was so bad you won't even hear him out?"

Loni looked down and he gripped his shield tighter. , "... me and him were the ones that got the cosplay business off the ground. I made the outfits and the props, he handled the money stuff and advertising and it went well for a while. Then he took some of my revenue and gave it to my dad to put it into my college fund."

"Why would that make you angry?"

"Its wasn't _for that_! I like, made it clear to him that all of my earnings go straight to 'Son's of Daughters Against Drunk Drivers', but instead he goes behind my back and totes betrays me."

"...it sounds like he did it with the best of intentions…"

He crossed his arms. "Doesn't matter. It's not what the money was for."

"Well you can at least open the envelope and see what he has to say."

He took the envelope from her outstretched hand. He opened it. Inside were three pages in his handwriting, most likely telling him how much he regretted his financial decision, and under that lay a check. It was made out to SADADD. And it was for $1,500.

"See? This more than makes up for what he did! You should talk to him."

"Why? Why do you care if we make up or not?"

She sighed. "There is someone in my dimension a lot like him. We've been at each other's throats for years and I don't ever see that changing. But this guy is taking the first step to reconcile with you and Loki. That's probably more than I'll ever get back home."

"Lori..."

"You've done so much for me since I got here.." She told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now, let me do something for you. Loki and him I can picture having a grudge, but not you and him. Hand me the shield, go over there, and talk to Carl."

He wanted to protest and simply exit the theater with her. But he knew Carl would probably find him again, and Loni… wasn't completely against the idea of trying to hash things out. He agreed.

She thanked him and Lori stepped outside the theater to give the two their privacy.

…...

Loni turned to face the young man. Carl looked defeated. Like he was about to take on Chitauri Leviathan single handedly. Another reason Loni agreed to speak with him, and had not tried to show Lori what else he could do with his shield given the opportunity, was because Lori was smart. Smart like his brother, and though Loki would definitely be against this, a lot of the biases he held towards Carl were unfair. It wasn't his fault he was a better shot than Loki.

"Hi." He greeted.

"Hi."

Fuck, this was the most uncomfortable side-mission he'd ever been on, and he didn't feel as powerful as he first had when he put on the suit that morning. He wondered if this was something Steve ever had to hash out with Bucky. Probably not, since Bucky and him dealt with more end of the universe related business. Carl claimed he was just thinking of his future. Their future. That hadn't been the right way to do it, though. He didn't want to jump into the conversation starting with what how he got the money for the check, so he went to the question that had been sitting in the back of his mind for the last couple of weeks.

"So…" Loni started, "you see _Dark Phoenix_ yet?"

Carl's features relaxed a little, and he chuckled sourly. "Yeah. I did."

"Real suckfest, amiright?" Loni grinned.

"The suckiest. Quicksilver had hardly any screen time!"

For a while it was like old times. They updated each other on the comics they'd read, what they'd been doing since summer break, where they planned to go. They even managed to share a laugh, ripping apart the movies they thought held the most promise this year but had completely fallen flat. Loni was going to tell him about Lori and why they were there when Carl interrupted him mid sentence.

"I miss you." he suddenly said. "And I am so… soooo sorry."

"Yeah. I gathered that from your last fifty texts." Loni told him removing his cowl.

Lane had only been half right when he announced why he believed Loni was single. Loni debated with himself furiously. Every part of him wanted to just say "piss off" but his mother had taught him better. She had also taught him that sometimes holding onto something so tightly could hurt a lot more than letting go of it. In regards to her death, and when he opened the business to make sure kids like his little siblings had the support they needed after losing their loved ones, this was something he felt he could not let go of. Yet Carl's feelings weren't exclusive. "I… I miss you too…" He replied, the regret thick in his voice.

Carl took Loni's hand in his own. His thumb gently stroked his gloved knuckles. Loni knew he shouldn't let him, but it was one of his weaknesses. And his touch was so gentle. Carl swallowed before saying, "You both hate me. You have every right to… I don't care about the business or what Loki thinks of me or what you do with your money. But is it impossible to continue where we left off?"

Touch. It's a powerful sense. A kind of magic that Loni Loud had shared with people throughout his life, and a gift that his mother frequently told him he had (but to be careful with certain people). When his forehead gently rested against Carl's, when his fingers intertwined with the other young man's, the memories flooded back in, almost as if they were being directly shared through each other's hippocampuses. The hours they spent talking to each other about their favorite comics. The smell of his hair in the shower. The security of waking up in the arms of someone so... precious. And being told in the most confident voice possible that he wasn't the school idiot that people made him out to be. That there was creativity and potential to who Loni was, and that it was to be explored and could be shaped into something bigger. It was that talk that made him get his cosplay business off the ground. These memories played back to him on repeat in imax. For a few seconds he forgot why he could have ever reached a point of disgust or even loathing with Carl of all people.

"No…", Loni whispered. He did want to start over. "... but… my life is… kinda crazy right now." He told him, lifting his head to meet his gaze. "... can you and me meet next Tuesday at 5:30? At your house?"

Carl closed his eyes and his features relaxed. The smile that crept up his face reflected the hope he felt build from within. "Yes… please."

….

The two captains now sat on the bench of a gravel outlook that rested atop a dirt trail. It towered over the theater they were in moments ago. It was Loni's favorite spot, a place he came to reflect upon for his next ideas for a costume. The best ones he got were after he got done with a movie, so the location was air was cool and the view gave them a cozy look at the familiar yet unfamiliar town below them. The streets were mostly empty, with exception to kids playing some street hockey about 100 feet below. It was a bitch getting up there in their outfits. Figuring it wasn't necessary to head straight back they sat and reflected upon their day.

"So… _cousin_…", Lori said, trying out the word, "is that we are?"

"I suppose…", he answered, chuckling, "it's weird, but that's how dad asked me to treat you guys, and what he says goes. Unless you already have cousins!"

"Nah… me neither. Aunt Ruth didn't have any kids and I don't think she will anytime soon."

Loni winced, grimacing at the image that played through his mind. "Yeah same with our Uncle Luther… guy really needs to take better care of himself."

"Ugh… when you go to visit, does he ask you to massage his bunions?", she asked.

"Worse. He makes us clean his ears… all three of them."

They both shuddered in disgust, flashing back to the borderline traumatic experiences they had with the one distant relative they had on their mother's side. As far as they were concerned, they weren't distant enough. They chatted about their favorite parts of the movie a bit longer, Loni telling her there were now twenty plus movies she had to see to get the full scope of how awesome the MCU was. All the while she nodded her head or made grunts of confirmation. She wanted to just keep the pleasantry going, but her concern for him after seeing the way he behaved with Carl left her with some questions. Questions that as painful as they were, needed to be addressed.

"Look, can we… can we talk about Rita?", she asked hesitantly.

"Totes." he told her straightening his posture.

"It's just… I don't want to presume anything, but you guys seem to be doing really well for yourselves after she passed. Well, except for Lars, but that's to be expected… I guess what I'm trying to ask is, how did you get from there… to here?"

Loni gave a half smile. "It wasn't easy. There are days where it still isn't easy and days that I will wake up in bed and just start crying. All of us have got challenges of our own, but we're managing. We've had a lot of support. That's kinda the flip side to death; when somebody loses their people it brings everyone around them together. It did for us, that's for sure. The Santiagos, the McBrides, the Sharps, the Casagrandes, heck, even Mrs. Grouse… they all united like the coolest team of superheroes ever to help out my family in the worst of times. It was... amazing."

That lessened Lori's anxiety significantly. She'd never lost anyone before, so how they dealt with this was something she could only guess about.

"My religion also helped me put my mom's death and my place in the world into perspective."

"Oh!" She said, suddenly surprised. Lori had been a self identified atheist since she was a pre-teen. Her parents hadn't put up much of a fight when she told them, but her proclamation of a lack of belief made her lose some connections to people in her community. She had no problem being friends with those who did align themselves with a higher power, as long as it wasn't something they shoved in her face. For now, she set aside her own bias and asked, "You believe in God?"

Loni clicked his teeth looking like he was trying to find the right words "Sorta… but I don't like to call it God. I call it: _the force_."

"_The force…_"

"Oh right, you probably haven't seen that movie either. Now, what the force is, is uh… dang it, I know this line! I've heard it a bajillion times!" he said snapping his fingers.

".._.is what gives a Jedi his power_." She finished for him, doing her best Alec Guiness impression. She stood up and extended her arms like she was putting on a presentation. "_It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together_."

Loni was left speechless at her near perfect reciting of that line from Episode IV.

"... are you a Jedi?"

"_Star Wars_ was a must watch, whenever I babysat Lincoln. He kept playing it and playing it and after awhile the dialogue stuck with me. It's also a pretty good movie."

For some, religion could be the answer, the bandage to the achingly persistent question, "why did I have to lose them?" For Loni, it appeared he'd taken his love for Star Wars and integrated it's spiritual side to make better sense of Rita's fate. Frankly, it was one that Lori could get behind; it didn't preach hate, discrimination, or inequality towards other groups of people nor promised eternal salvation for blindly accepting whatever it's holy book spat out. Just the idea that everyone was part of the universe, (or technically now the multiverse) and that one day they would all become a bigger more unified version of it.

She sat back down, took his hand in both of hers and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "That's beautiful, Loni. I'm… I'm so glad that you've made it this far. And I can totally picture your mom being one with _the force_."

"Exactly…" he told her wiping his eyes and squeezing her hand, "She's one with _the force_, now… and someday? I'm gonna go be a part of the force with her."

"_Strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine._" They both said in unison, and giggling at their synchronicity.

"And the more I think about it…", Loni continued, "maybe it was also the work of the force that brought us together..."

Cue_ Binary Sunset_.

"Yeah. Maybe it was…" she confirmed. It was certainly a better reason than 'my savant little sister did something incredibly reckless and almost got us killed'. The warmth of the summer heat had grown notably cooler, the perch from where they sat gave them a breathtaking view. Lori sat with her new cousin and relished in the feeling of one of the many weights that left her shoulders that day. There was so much to look forward to, now, and with what little time she had left here, she wanted to spend it all with the family that looked just like her own. She looked at him with a knowing smile.

"...you wanna tell me about Carl?"

He lifted his head and his face captured the essence of hope. Like a child catching fireflies on a warm summer night. Hell yes, he did.

**A/N: What can I say? I'm a sappy guy. I love interactions between Lori and Loni, and Loki and Leni. If they weren't related I would ship them harder than… well harder than I ship Loni and Carl. Almost makes me want to write a fanfic spin-off of them making lov- I mean up. Special thanks to Hatoralo for giving me the idea for this chapter and convincing me not to give up the story. They are awesome, go check out their stuff (sorry, I don't know what your gender is). The irony isn't lost on me that some of my personal beliefs did make it into this fic, but I'm opinionated, and that won't change anytime soon. By now you've probably realized my fics are more dialogue heavy; sorry, that's just the way I roll. To anyone who uses the shit out of narration and uses it well: kudos to you, I wish I had your skill. To those of you actually taking the time to read this, should I do one more chapter in dimension XY before switching back to dimension XX oooorrrr should I write a couple of chapters showing what Lane did with Luna and what Lief did with girl-Lynn. Both? Neither? Come on, talk to me! I'm not needy, I swear! I sweeeee- *gets tackled to the floor by the needy police***


	12. Update

Hey guys. So it's been a minute since I've posted something and for that I apologize. I know some of you read my stuff and are waiting for an update. For that I'm flattered. Unfortunately I'm dealing with very serious mental health issues and my own anxieties about being a writer. I wish I found my own writing acceptable but I don't and thats part of the reason I haven't posted anything. I write a lot, I just don't post, and I don't think that will change anytime soon. It may in the future but for now I just need to focus on healing my burned out, fucked up, brain. On that day I may post again. Thank you to all who follow favorite or even read my work. If you you choose to leave I won't blame you and I thank you for sticking as long as you did.

I'll leave you with a quote from my favorite author, "May all your stories be glad ones and all of your roads be smooth and short." -Patrick Rothfuss

Until then, play it loud and play it proud.

-Shoe


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